Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Notes from Rome
We have stopped for a brief respite at an Internet café, and it looked like a good chance to post my sparse but elite readership on the TigerHawk family Italian vacation. Unfortunately, the Italian keyboard includes lots of weird characters in strange places, and I only have a few minutes, so we may not get much up before the sun sets on this post.
We have rented an apartment not far from the Colosseum, having concluded a couple of years ago that apartment living is the way to go when visiting major European cities. We have two bedrooms, a foldout bed in the living room for the TigerHawk daughter, a nice kitchen and a single bath. We are on the fifth floor, so we are far above the noisy street, and can choose to ascend to that level via either marble staircase or tiny, little old-style microelevator. Since the elevator can only hold part of the family on any given trip, some of us sprint up the stairs, the goal being to beat the elevator riders to the top.
Yesterday, our first full day here, we power-toured through ancient Rome. The morning was dedicated to detailed scrutiny of the Colosseum. In the afternoon, we toured the rest of the Roman Forum, learned about vestial virgins (it was a bad idea to fool around with them), and checked out the alleged tomb of Julius Ceasar. From there we travelled to the catacombs, where we walked a tiny fraction of the 20 miles of tunnels under the guidance of an Australian priest charged with leading tourists around the catacombs. Thereafter a quick stop at Circus Maximus, a couple of other random old sites that I can't remember, at which point we were pretty much cooked.
Today has been much more relaxed, which is good, because we are suffering from jet lag. We slept until about 10:30, and then departed for the Spanish Steps. Shopping, Trivi Fountain, and then on the to Pantheon.
Wishing you were here, and running out of minutes here at the cyber café. Keep the flag flying back home.
We have rented an apartment not far from the Colosseum, having concluded a couple of years ago that apartment living is the way to go when visiting major European cities. We have two bedrooms, a foldout bed in the living room for the TigerHawk daughter, a nice kitchen and a single bath. We are on the fifth floor, so we are far above the noisy street, and can choose to ascend to that level via either marble staircase or tiny, little old-style microelevator. Since the elevator can only hold part of the family on any given trip, some of us sprint up the stairs, the goal being to beat the elevator riders to the top.
Yesterday, our first full day here, we power-toured through ancient Rome. The morning was dedicated to detailed scrutiny of the Colosseum. In the afternoon, we toured the rest of the Roman Forum, learned about vestial virgins (it was a bad idea to fool around with them), and checked out the alleged tomb of Julius Ceasar. From there we travelled to the catacombs, where we walked a tiny fraction of the 20 miles of tunnels under the guidance of an Australian priest charged with leading tourists around the catacombs. Thereafter a quick stop at Circus Maximus, a couple of other random old sites that I can't remember, at which point we were pretty much cooked.
Today has been much more relaxed, which is good, because we are suffering from jet lag. We slept until about 10:30, and then departed for the Spanish Steps. Shopping, Trivi Fountain, and then on the to Pantheon.
Wishing you were here, and running out of minutes here at the cyber café. Keep the flag flying back home.
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