What a first day!!!

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I'm running on about 5 hours sleep for the last 3 days, so ignore my wondering mind... What a day. I left Indy and it was 4-14, I landed in Rome and it was 4-15. Awesome. I am in the future! Anyway... the flight went perfect, I had some cheese in my breakfast called Baybel, and it was incredible! In a word, buttery! I found my first bed, cleaned up a bit, and hit the road for the Colosseum. I had to eat, so what else, but pizza! I had a real quattro formaggio and it was fantastic. A few more steps, and I wanted a cappuccino, so I did. I even got a sprinkle of cinnamon in the shape of a face, very fun. It was wonderful, and only 1 euro. 'Hellllloooo, Starbucks... hear that?' I got to the Colosseum, awesome. I have a ton of pics. On the colosseum floor, they spread sand down, and some version of Latin for 'sand' is 'arena', and that's why we call all stadiums 'arenas'. I didn't know that. Across the street, I went to the Roman Forum and Palatine/Polorno. Roman emperors built their huge homes at Palatine/Polorno, and that's where we get the word 'palace'. You could see the area known as Circus Maximus, where the chariot races happened. A funny lesson is the Roman Forum was a marketplace, and besides food and other goods, sex was sold by ladies of the evening. Since 'forum' meant 'market', we took the word 'forum' and created 'fornicate' for market sex. Funny. But I digress. Read up on Roman Forum, everything to do with the Roman Empire happened there! I had a gelato craving, so I got some REAL gelato, and all I could say was CREAMY! I continued my walk of a lifetime by walking down the Tiber/Tevere river. Very nice. I walked into another cappuccino shop, ordered a cap, and asked to use the bathroom. (most people speak English, and I am trying Italian best I can). They said go through the back door and down the stairs. Ok, when I walked down the stairs, it looked like a maze. Very interesting, I can only imagine what is under this city. In a list, I saw a statue of a mouth that eats your arm if you lie (I'm still typing, so that's good) at Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore, Basilica di San Pietro in Vincoli, Piazza Campo de Fiori, Piazza Navona (think starving artist's sale all the time, very interesting), got more gelato (black truffle, think death my chocolate on steroids! It's very well known I guess), the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Santa Maria del Popolo, the Spanish Steps and the Spanish Balilica (church), and finally the Rome Opera House. Whew! I am ready for some sleep!!!!

Well, not yet. I'm using an old Imac, and it can't read my new SD card, (or I don't know how) to upload my pics. Pics are still there, I checked. Take my word for it....

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