Roamin' 'Round "Roma" - Italy 3

Just a coffee (espresso by default) for about 80 euro cents at the counter. Once I asked for a cappucino, and got a dirty look. I also was asked "Inglese?" (english), which was probably a more polite question than americano? I shrugged my shoulders, and a girl next to me who was occasionally helping smooth the communication said "yes" for me, so I got chocolate dusting on the foam, as we get back home. This was at 4pm. I have since been told I was probably one of the least cool, most touristy things to do would be to have an american style cappucino in Italy in the afternoon. Milky coffees are for the morning and are usually with breakfast.

Monuments like the Colloseum abound, and are just part of the streetscape. After all, they have been standing there for around 2000 years, so cars have to go around. Though with a bit of development it would make a good carpark...

Relief detail on an archway near Colloseo

The Romans really got around, living up to their 'roaming' name...

In front of Republica

The Forum. Several centuries of ruins and monuments.

(partially) Thru a bus window

Not all of Rome is ancient monuments

Some square. For reasons unknown, most statues here were missing their heads. And also their penises.

But the penises were did not get their own special hole higher up on the wall.
(is this a new low?)

The gang. (Sorry Alissa).

The ocular hole in the Pantheon, what was the worlds biggest dome (deliberately unfinished?) until the Duomo in Florence was built.

Pantheon Capitals

Just a typical apartment block

Street on the way to the Trevi Fountain

Over the fence is 6 and out in backyard cricket. What is the river in street football?

Chestnut vendor

The Spanish Steps

The gang's first dinner together, at an excellent restaurant recommended by the hotel, and attended by most of the hotel guests. Fantastic food, and effusive service from the extroverted owners and waiters. Upon being seated several plates of unordered entrees came to the table - garlic pizza, prosciutto, deep fried vegies, fresh mozarella... all on the bill at the end of course! But still reasonable.

So why the photo of the Italian pizza? After a long debate with Chris and "Louie", in Italian, he tried to order one pizza for him to share between two, and one pizza to be a half and half. This didn't seem so easy, as Louie kept saying "one person, one pizza"... at one point writing down 3 pizzas... so in the end what they got was a strange compromise with each getting half of the pizza that was to share, the other half being one half of the desired half and half... if you follow.

My medium sized steak fiorentino! Just in case I didn't make it to Florence...

Louie earned his 10% service charge that night!