Rome 2006

Rome was hot. Not only was it hot, but it was muggy too. There was culture all over the place, so much that it eventually became overwhelming. I will say, though, that the food was excellent, even if it could have been cooked by just leaving it outside,
One day we went to Pompei, which was a complete and utter disaster. Every train we got on that day was late and packed and broken. I finally understood why people said about Mussolini, "At least he made the trains run on time." When we got to the ruins, I decided that that name was very apropos, because the city looked as if it had been shelled.
The major takeaway I got from Italy was that personal space is a uniquely American phenomenon. On all of the trains and metros we took we were packed like sardines




An entire dimension for Tony Danza? Can I never go there?




Monument to Victor Emmanuel II. They call it the Wedding Cake, for obvious reasons.




Where Julius Caesar was cremated. Or so we're told