~Rome, Italy~

May 12

On the 7th day of our trip Jeff gave to me... Seven stops at little tourists traps to find the perfect leather trinket bracelet

Jeff was excited to see Rome. Maybe it's because he looks like Russell Crowe in Gladiator, or maybe because he just read Angels and Demons on the way there. Whatever the reason, he was excited to be there which made me excited to be there so we both had a great time. It was crazy to think of all the horrific events that happened in the center of this stadium-I guess over 9,000 animals died in the first 100 days of celebrations! They also used to fill it up with water and have naval battles in here. At one point they took the stadium floor and set it off into four sections so they could have more fights going on at a time. Sick! Then sadly, just like our stadiums, it eventually became lame to go and see. Pretty soon the only thing the coliseum was hosting were circus acts.For seven euro you could get your picture with a bonafide gladiator. Jeff opted out after watching some tourist give the guy money, the guy grabbed his wife into a very seductive pose, just about kissed her, all the while the husband was taking photos. He then switched to another pose while the husband kept taking photos. Jeff wasn't going to pay some other guy to kiss me. Since we had limited time we opted to enjoy a leisurely stroll through the Forums rather than dash across the city, jump on a crowded bus, stand in line at the Vatican for an hour just to spend twenty minutes in the Vatican. We'll just have to come back! Up at the Forums you could see across the entire city. It was a beautiful view, we made friends with some fellow Americans and went over every column and building in their guide book with them.

How in the world Italy stays together without Jeff and I to help hold it up is a mystery.

After the Forums we wandered down to see the "Mouth Of Truth." Jeff tried to tell me that the headache he had was not from a lack of drinking Coke but rather "just because" and he almost lost a finger.

They modeled several statues after me. I know, I know.... it's hard to capture such beauty but they did their very best. We wandered around part of Rome and enjoyed the fountains, the statues, and most of all a hidden gelato shop. On the Island of Tiberina/Tiber/Tiberian we enjoyed local music, a walk on the river, and some genuine gelato. We knew it was the real deal and not a trap because it was half the price, twice the flavors and the Italian serving it heard our American accents and gave us half what she'd been giving her line of Italian homies. Whatever. It was still good. On the way back to the car we saw this cute graffiti. For some reason if graffiti is poetic it suddenly becomes a work of art instead of an irritation. I like that my hair is blowing in the wind-we thought it had taken the picture with the self timer and right as we looked over it had the last warning blink so we had to react quickly. It was a beautiful end to the day... considering it would take us almost ten hours to drive to Venice....