Or, as they call it in Rome...food...

Michael and Barb,

In Rome.  This was lunch.

EH regaled us with "Notes to Live By" and the first about Rome was "there's always traffic and it's not helped by the insanity of Roman drivers."  This was confirmed by the taxi driver from the airport, who made it seem like one lane was two, made his own shortcuts, and did all kinds of hand gesticulations shooting through the wet Roman streets.

They said it hasn't rained here in two months.  It rained here today.

But we made it with ease from Stansted, with only a minimum of hassle (EH pulled a Michael and got double checked by security, for who knows what?).  Other than that Ryanair was on time and we were in central Rome for lunch.

(For fun, you might want to have a drink for every time I make a Michael is old joke here)

We decided the thing to do to get an overview was to get on one of those hop on hop off tour buses, which conveniently talk to you in like 24 languages (not all at once).  We started at the nearest hop spot, the Circus Maximus -- pictured here.

You know. Michael, Maximus, the one who was emperor in your middle age.

The streets are tight and the bus is large.  It was maybe 50 with a drizzle.  Not a day for being out on the top of a moving bus.

Our overview is that the city is very old and historical and there are LOTs of people here.  You couldn't get near St. Peter's due to the pilgrims (the real ones, like carrying wooden crosses) and some closures.  Maybe another day.

There are fountains.

There are lots of palaces.  And churches.

I didn't get a good shot of the Colisseum (today) and all I got from our distance was this one of the St. Peter's dome.

WE are going to the Colisseum, a short bus ride from our B&B, tomorrow.

After an afternoon nap, we found a place nearby for dinner.  The local pizza place was too full. So we found a place that specialized in Italian...error...food (as they call it here).  How's this?

It's been suggested I have died and gone to heaven.  Not sure about that, but I do like they do with cuisine.

As a final EH moment, she asked why we call it "Rome" when the Romans call it "Roma?" Is the extra A too hard? Who knows the vagaries of Anglicization?

And with that, we move to day 2.  Buonsero (or something like that)