I went out for a little excursion this morning, and decided to take the metro to Piazza di Spagna. I hadn't yet seen the Spanish Steps on this trip, so I walked around and did some more window shopping. For some reason, in the past two days I have this incredible wanting to buy a digital camera. I really don't need one, nor can I really afford one, but I really want one. I imagine me, running around Rome, taking pictures like a professional photographer, then coming back to the hostel and posting them all over the internet. Maybe I could get a side job with the Associated Press or something... or maybe I watched Roman Holiday while I was home over the Christmas and now have too much free time on my hands to let my imagination run wild...

Piera sent me a message on my mobile this afternoon. She and her friends were having an end-of-exams party and invited me over. "I'm making a cake!" she wrote, as if I needed to be tempted. When I arrived Piera and her cousin Maddalena were making the cake, a Sacher Torte. I got to help with difficult and challenging tasks such as cutting the parchment paper and heating up the jam that is used to glaze the cake. After that, Piera made a pizza.. then it was simply a matter of waiting for everyone to arrive! By 9 Maria Lucia, Maria Pia, and Paola had shown up, Marcella stopped by later on after having dinner with a friend. We sat around talking, eating, and laughing, but around 11.30 I started getting tired and couldn't concentrate and follow the conversation anymore. And shortly after that Maria Pia (who talks really fast as it is) and Maria Lucia got into some kind of argument and started talking even faster.. I just couldn't take it! I left the room and went to watch TV in the kitchen. The pre-show of the Formula1 race from Melbourne was on, and I half paid attention as they introduced the racers and showed highlights from last season. Finally, around 2.30, everyone left and we got to go to bed.

I returned back from Piera's around noon and Jenny and I left shortly thereafter for the stadium, stopping for lunch at a bar down the street. We took the metro and then a tram (full of other people dressed in Lazio's team colors, light blue & white), and then followed the crowd. Just about a block from the stadium Jenny and I stopped to check out a table of Lazio merchandise. She bought a stuffed animal eagle (Lazio's mascot) and I was looking at some socks, and the man selling the stuff was telling me how they were really my size even though the package was clearly marked bambino. "Oh look!" he said, "Here comes the team on their bus." I turned around and sure enough, there was a bus full of soccer players driving past. "Ciao ciao!" I said, waving. A couple players looked at me, but they must have thought I was a freak because they didn't wave back (I was just trying to be nice!!).

It was only after the bus passed us that Jenny turned around... either she didn't hear the guy or didn't understand him or something. "Oh my God!!! I didn't even see them!! There you are waving at them and I am leaning over this table giving them a view of my butt!" I felt kind of bad, because here Jenny is the huge Lazio fan and I was just along for the ride. We paid for our stuff (I did get the socks, and they do actually fit) and continued towards the stadium. Every three minutes Jenny would say, "I can't believe you waved to them and they only saw my butt!" Luckily she has since come to the conclusion that the bus had turned the corner next to us, so the players probably saw her face before the turn and her butt after. Regardless, it gave us plenty of laughs for the afternoon. We arrived at the stadium and found our seats. We were sitting about mid-field, towards the bottom. There were maybe six rows of people in front of us, then some plexiglass, then a racetrack, then the field.

I have to confess I really don't know anything about soccer--though I like to pretend I do, as it makes me feel more Italian. On my first trip to Europe, my friend Pharaba and I arrived in France on the day World Cup started. I still remember standing in the Paris train station in absolute awe of the crowds of people from all over the world singing soccer chants. Throughout the following weeks I became a soccer fan, watching the games and cheering for the different teams (though mostly the Italian team). So, while I like the game, I really have no idea of the rules, other than to get the ball into the net. Seems simple enough, but then they pull out all these other things about yellow and red cards, and penalty kicks.. whatever. I just follow the rest of the crowd, and cheer when they cheer and boo when they boo.

Which was easy enough. Sitting behind the goalpost, in the curve, or la curva as it's called, were the.. I don't want to say "true fans" for fear of upsetting Jenny, so maybe it's better if I say the "rowdy fans" or the "fans who bought the cheapest tickets" or the "fans who get really mad and throw stuff and set things on fire when the other team scores a goal" or something. NB: I've just been informed they really do have a name; they're called the irriducibili (irreduceable? unreductable? cannot be reduced?) Regardless, at times it was more fun watching them than watching the game. All soccer fans (at least in Italy) have these scarves, and during the opening.. hymn? The Lazio theme song? whatever you want to call it, everyone held up their scarf. It was such an awesome sight. They led us in all the songs, and I tried my best to sing along, though my words to the songs were more like, "ooooo aaaaay, eeeee oooo, Lazioooooo, yayyyy ooooeeee" or something. At one point I thought I had figured out one chant, and sang non volare mai, which means never fly away. That seemed to fit seeing that the team mascot was an eagle, until Jenny told me the words are really non mollare mai, which means never give up. Whatever.

Lazio scored three goals in the first half, and at each goal we jumped out of our seat and cheered, Jenny waving her Lazio eagle and me the Lazio jersey she let me borrow (I just didn't want to be left out). When I asked if there was some kind of a half-time show she laughed at me and said that there would be cheerleaders and everything (like I know). In the second half, Venezia scored two goals, both off of free kicks or penalty kicks or something, but Lazio came back and shot a fourth goal just before the game ended.

After the game we were still on a high, and walked back to the hostel (which wasn't actually that far), cars of Lazio fans driving past us (now with their scarves tied to their side mirrors). Jenny has tickets for next week's Roma-Lazio "derby" as it's called, and has invited me to go along... I just need to somehow bribe Danilo into covering my shift for the evening!!

I headed out around noon for Pincio, where the Eurochocolate festival is being held. Just like in Perugia, there were little tables set up by different vendors from all over Italy, as well as some foreign countries. I tried not to buy anything, knowing that once I started I wouldn't be able to control myself. I did buy some chocolates, about a dozen little pieces for myself--two baci, my favorite hazelnut kisses made by Perugina, two Banana (dark chocolate with a banana cream filling, yum), and four little pieces of chocolate by a company called FIAT. I also bought Jenny a bag of chocolates, little round chocolates covered in foil in the Lazio team colors, and I bought a magnet for myself.

It's always really cold at the hostel, and I had dressed this morning in jeans and a wool sweater. After being outside for an hour, though, I was hot and sweaty, so after a while I went back to the hostel, where I put on a short-sleeved shirt (and five minutes later, a sweater, because I was cold). It was my night to work, and things here are slowly picking up. We had four guests arrive today, and by the end of the week we'll be up to about 15 people. We're getting there!

After being a prisoner here for 24 hours (ie, while I'm working--this is where the working from home reference comes in), all I can think about is getting outside and away for a few hours. Today was no exception. So after a shower, I headed out, first to the grocery store, and later on to the cinema.

Wednesday night is the discount night at the cinemas, and admission varies between 4 and 5 euro (instead of 6-8 euro). So it was just a matter of choosing a film. There is a film out that I do want to see, Da Zero a Dieci, an Italian film written and directed by Ligabue, my favorite Italian singer. It's playing at a few theaters around Rome, but not one in an area I know (and in easy reach via metro and/or bus). I narrowed it down to theaters that were nearby or in easy reach, and it came down to two films: Ali was playing at the English-language cinema near the Trevi Fountain, or a dubbed-into-Italian Kate and Leopold at the cinema just off the Barberini metro stop. I wasn't really in the mood for making myself have to think, so I headed off to the English cinema.

In the end I'm not sure if I made the right decision.. I figured the film had to be decent, since Will Smith was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar, but I didn't really like it. As a matter of fact, by the time the intermission rolled around (all Italian cinemas have an intermission), I considered just getting up and leaving. I forced myself to sit through it, and afterwards went for a little walk.. okay, that's a fancy way of saying I got kind of lost. Who knew that the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps were so far away from each other?

There are these poppies, papaveri they're called in Italian, red in color, and to me they are THE sign of springtime. They grow like weeds here.. I especially see them along the train tracks as I'm traveling. And today, as I was checking out some Roman ruins, there were a few growing in what used to be a temple. It was awesome.

I had decided to continue on my church sightseeing today, and took the metro to the Colosseum. It was just past the Colosseum that I saw the ruins, which "happened" to be discovered in 1937--I love that! All of a sudden they're building a street or something and come across these 2000 year old remains of a building! Things like this never happen in the States!

My first real stop was San Clemente, a church I had read about over a year ago but had still never visited. It's actually 3 churches in one! The present building is a church dating back to medieval times. Downstairs are the remains of an earlier church dating to the 4th century, and even below that there are the remains of a Mithraic temple from 200 years earlier.

Now, I'm not clausterphobic per se, but I always get a creepy feeling when I'm in underground tombs, castle dungeons, caves, etc. But I really wanted to see the two below-ground churches, so I psyched myself up and went for it. It turned out to be fine, because it was really well-lit, and there were plenty of other people milling around. I did get a little scared at one point, though.. I was down looking at the Mithraic temple. There is not only the temple but a series of rooms, as it was all once part of a house. I followed the signs leading towards the exit, and ended in a room with no other way out. I turned around and went back the other way, again reaching a dead end. Then I realized there was no one else around and my heart started pounding! I very quickly walked back the way I had come, and just exited from the entrance--I just couldn't find the exit, and I didn't want to take the time to look for it!

From San Clemente I headed towards Santi Quattro Coronati, but I couldn't find it. My map had placed it in the middle of the block, and after circling the entire block I just gave up and headed to San Stefano Rotondo sul Cielo. I had tried to come to this church before but it was closed. The church, as its name implies, is round, and it's located in a lovely little park with cypress trees. There was a lot of construction going on inside (the floor was torn up through most of the church) and visitors were confined to one little area. I examined best I could, trying to get a glimpse of the frescoes that circle the wall of the church. They are scenes of the martyrdoms of different saints, but between viewing from a distance, their age, and the excess dust caused by the construction, they proved too difficult to view.

It was only about 1 by the time I left Santo Stefano, so I continued walking, and ended up at San Giovanni in Laterano. I had been to this church before, but was a little confused when I arrived there.. I remembered it looking different. I went inside. No, it was the same church, with the Giotto fresco, the gilded ceiling.. I must be imagining another church.

I left San Giovanni and arrived back to the hostel around 2.30, where I found Alex and Angela painting the reception area. They've been wanting to do some upgrades to the hostel, things like painting, putting tile in the kitchen, and getting a VCR. I was just surprised they had started so soon! They've painted the lower half of the walls of the reception a dark red shade, kind of wine colored. It looks really nice. Can't wait to see what'll happen next!

I didn't do anything exciting for Women's Day, really.. at least, nothing related to the holiday. After my shift I ran a couple errands, including going to the grocery store and to the Lazio shop. Jenny handed me some money and said, "Buy us something to wear on Sunday!" Yes, Danilo agreed to cover my shift, and Jenny and I are off to the derby!! The store didn't have a huge selection, though, so my choices were limited.. especially since the stuff to wear cost more than my daily salary at the hostel. So, Jenny and I are now the proud owners of our own Lazio scarves. I can't wait for Sunday.

I didn't want to spend the evening at the hostel (especially because I was trying to avoid these two guests who got mad at me.. they ended up staying the night at their friend's house and wanted me to refund them their money, and I said no), so I sent my friend Ricardo an SMS and asked him if he wanted to go to the movies. "Sure, why not?" he wrote me back, and I called him to tell him the movie choices: this time, it was Da Zero a Dieci at a theater near the Spanish Steps, or Oceans 11 (in English) at a theater in Trastevere. We decided to go to Trastevere, and grab a pizza before the movie. I decided to see if Danilo wanted to come too. Danilo is taking Italian classes and I was sure he could use a night free from thinking in Italian (I get that way too!). We all made plans to meet at 8.30 in front of McDonalds.

It was raining when I got on the bus to Trastevere. I arrived at 8.25, Danilo at 8.35, and Ricardo at 8.45. We went and bought our movie tickets (where I made a lovely Italian mistake.. Ricardo decided I should carry all three tickets, and I said, okay, because I was la più disponibile, but I wanted to say I was la più responsabile.. so instead of being the most responsible I became the most available... oops!). Then we went to a restaurant for Chinese food. I've gone out for Chinese food a couple times in Rome, and it's always been really good and really inexpensive--like an entire meal for under 5 euro. The only hard part is, the menu is usually printed in Chinese and Italian, so I sometimes have trouble figuring out what things are! It's getting easier now.. and I was relieved to see that this restaurant's menu was in Italian and English. I ordered egg rolls and fried noodles with vegetables, and it was all yummy. We walked back to the theater, got our seats (in the smallest theater in the world!! About 8 rows each with about 10 seats!), and kicked back for the movie. It was good (definitely better than Ali!).

The movie ended around 12.30. Rome's buses run until midnight, at which time the less frequent but (at least, it seems to me) more punctual night buses start. We walked (in the pouring rain.. but there was something kind of enjoyable about it) to Largo Torre Argentina, where Ricardo and I were to catch our night buses, and said goodnight to Danilo, who was going to walk down the street to Piazza Venezia, since he was catching a bus in another direction. Ricardo's bus was right on time, and about 15 minutes later (at 1.06 am) mine arrived too.

Rome's (and, for that matter, most of Italy's) buses and metro lines work on the honor system.. you buy a ticket and validate it when you get on the metro or bus. Every once in a while, you'll see a controller asking for tickets, and if you fail to produce a valid one, it's a fine of about $50. They rarely control the night buses.. so I wasn't the only one surprised when three men in uniform got on the bus a few stops after me. They went person to person asking for a ticket, and wrote up fines for about six or seven ticketless people. I think they ruined a few people's Friday night out!

All I really wanted was a hot chocolate. Italian hot chocolate is sooo good. It's really thick, kind of like pudding, and really chocolatey. So I got myself a little cup for 1 euro, then bought a few chocolates and a cup and saucer.. I wanted to get the one with the Eurochocolate logo, but then I saw a really cute one with Vespa scooters on it and I had to have it! Shortly after that it started raining really hard, and I just gave up and went back to the hostel. I took a little nap before my shift, and spend the rest of the evening playing on the internet, writing in my journal, reading, and talking to other guests.

The derby started at 8.30 pm, and we left around 6. "We" meant me, Jenny, and John and Alisdair, two Scottish Lazio fans that Jenny met on the internet. We walked up to the stadium, joking that perhaps some crazy Roma fan would come and beat us up. The closer we got to the stadium the more fans we saw, carrying flags, wearing their scarves.. everybody was ready.

We arrived at the stadium and it was packed.. you could already hear the people inside chanting and singing! Jenny wasn't sure where we had to go to pick up the tickets she had ordered on the internet. The map showed a biglietteria, but when we got to it, it was closed.. there must be some special ticket window. We walked.. and walked.. and in the end walked all the way around the stadium! We got back to near where we had started and Jenny asked a police man, who pointed us in the right direction. As we were walking we saw a guy who looked just like Ligabue, my favorite Italian singer, but later Jenny and I decided he probably wouldn't just be walking around like an average Italian at the derby, but that he probably would sit in the Tribuna di Onore.

We got our tickets, and made plans to meet up with John and Alisdair afterwards. Then we left for our seats. We were seated more or less in the same area as last week, just much higher up. And, unlike what I had expected, the stadium wasn't divided with the Roma fans in one part and the Lazio fans in another... in the curva, yes, but in the long side section where we were, there was a collection of Lazio and Roma fans together... and, it seemed, mostly Roma fans, because Jenny and I were surrounded by them.

The game started a few minutes late, and about 10-15 minutes into it Roma scored their first goal. The people around us jumped to their feet and started cheering, and the guy behind us was a little too excited and kicked me in the head--not hard, but hard enough that it really hurt. I turned around and started screaming at him, but he was too busy celebrating that he didn't hear me. When they finally calmed down and sat down again I turned around and said to him, "OUCH!" I don't think he got it, because when Roma scored their second goal a little bit later the guy next to me stepped on my foot! After that I learned to move the other way and put up my hands to protect me every time Roma scored. And they scored five goals, compared to Lazio's pathetic one. It was definitely an off night for Lazio--they played really really badly. After the first half the guy next to me (the foot-stepper-oner) said to me, "Are you going to go and buy a new scarf?" I said no, because Lazio's matched my eyes (it's light blue and white, where Roma's colors are red--maroonish, really--and orange).

All in all I didn't enjoy this match as much as I did the first. The energy in the stadium was great.. but perhaps too great, as there were fights breaking out, people throwing things onto the field (so their favorite player and trip on an empty water bottle and twist his ankle?), all kinds of firecrackers (and many more in Roma's team colors than Lazio's), and at one point even a fire in the stands. I guess there was also a tear gas bomb, or something... it didn't make my eyes tear up but it really made my nose burn. I understand wanting to show team spirit but... my God, IT'S JUST A GAME!!

When the match ended Jenny rushed us out of the stadium, as she expected fights and stuff (and so did the police, who were in full force!). We got outside, but then it was a matter of getting back to the ticket office where we were going to meet John and Alisdair. It meant walking through the crowd of people who were coming from the curva sud, where the crazy Roma fans were sitting.. and Jenny decided to go for it. "I'm sorry," I said to her, "You just made this whole big deal about how we had to get out of the stadium and away from the crazy fans; and now you want to walk into the eye of the storm?" But we did, and it was fine, except a lot of guys told us not to cry, to pick ourselves up, to buy new scarves, or to get ready for next year.

We met up with John and Alisdair and started walking back to the hostel. They discussed the game (using soccer terms that I still don't know) and we talked about going to get something to eat. Most places were just about closing, so we ended up going back to the hostel and ordering pizza.

I went into the Vatican bookstore afterward, because I wanted to see if there was some kind of book about the art of St Peters. As it turns out, there are several... I looked through a few but didn't see one that was really what I was looking for. There was a really great book, a 4-volume set with the Vatican art and the history behind it, for the lovely price of 900 euro. I guess I'll pass! I did get a small book about the popes, and one about the Sistine Chapel.

After that it was time to go to work. It's slowed down again after the weekend, and we only have about 6 guests tonight. I'm already planning what I'll do tomorrow afternoon...

Casey lives two metro stops away, so I took the metro to where she was and waited for her on the corner. Some French guys asked me for directions and I was happy I could actually tell them what bus they needed to take and everything! I sat down on a bench and looked around, thinking it would have been a good idea if I had asked Casey what she looked like. I saw a blonde girl walking down the opposite side of the street who looked like she could be Casey.. she got to the corner, looked around, crossed the street, looked around some more.. and around that point she spotted me. She continued her way around the intersection until she got to where I was.. yep, it was Casey!

She arrived with a little proposition, if I were interested. A friend of hers was going to be taking part in a fashion show at a disco here in Rome, did I want to go? Hmm... not really, but I didn't want to be so negative right off the bat so I asked where it was, and then Casey mentioned that there was also a 30 euro cover to get in.. 30 euro! That's more than I make in a day! I told her I really didn't want to pay that much money to get in, and she said she didn't either.. sigh of relief. "What about Campo?" she said, referring to Campo de'Fiori, another great night spot, full of restaurants, bars, pubs, and people, so we got on the bus and headed over there.

It was on the bus that the Casey's true motives came out.. there was a guy she liked who worked at a wine bar at Campo de'Fiori, and she knew that he worked Tuesday nights. She asked me if I had met a lot of guys in Rome, and I felt kind of old and boring saying that no, I don't really go out much.. at least, not to bars and discos.. and you don't meet too many guys doing the church/museum thing!

We went into the vineria and there was the object of Casey's affection behind the bar. We each ordered a glass of wine and then sat on a bench, drinking, and Casey and said bartender continued to pass little glances back and forth between each other. Casey and I talked about a lot of different things, from nannying to traveling to our lives back home. I started feeling the effects of the alcohol after my second glass of wine, and told Casey I needed to get something to eat. There were little sandwiches and stuff available, so I had two, one with prosciutto, and the second with some kind of funky paste stuff... like olive paste or something. It didn't taste as bad as it looked.

I wasn't ready to put any more wine into me, so we decided to leave and walk around for a bit, but stopped in the bathroom on our way out. We went inside and there was one of the other bartenders there (I had made mention earlier that I thought he was attractive), washing his hands. "Do you work here?" Casey said to him, and he looked at her in a way that meant, he didn't speak English. I was feeling nice from the wine and took over in Italian. "You know that guy you work with, the one in the red t-shirt? Does he have a girlfriend?" He asked why, did I like him? I said no, but that Casey did. He smirked and left the bathroom. "What did you say to him?!!" Casey screeched, and I told her. She started yelling and hitting me, telling me how embarrassed she was, how she wanted to tell the bartender that I had thought HE was attractive! "Oh, sorry!" I told her. I dind't understand what the big deal was, but.. whatever!

We left the bar in a rush, as Casey was afraid to face Mr. Bartender, and walked around for a bit, then stopped in another bar for a glass of water. We took the plastic cups outside, sat by the fountain for a bit, then went back to the wine bar and sat outside. Only seconds later Mr. Bartender came out, his shift was over. I told Casey to glance over and make eye contact with him, but she was embarrassed. "Do it! He's going to leave!" And she did, and he noticed her and went back inside, and came back outside with a beer. He came over to us and told us, in Italian, that we couldn't sit there. I asked why and he said it was because we had drinks from another bar. I told him we were waiting for the waitress to take our order, then had to translate everything back for Casey. She ended up going inside to get drinks for us, but didn't seem too happy when I told her I wanted an espresso. While she was gone I started talking to Mr. Bartender, whose name turned out to be Pino (short for Giuseppino, a derivative of Giuseppe). He was 25, from Naples, and studied dance when he wasn't working at the bar. He did speak some English, but it was easier for me to converse with him in Italian, which we did in between his and Casey's conversations in English. He told us he was going to go to a bar in Trastevere and invited us along, and we said yes.

Trastevere isn't very far from Campo de'Fiori, just through the Jewish quarter and across the river. We were walking through the streets, Casey and Pino a few steps behind me, and I turned around to ask something and they were kissing... okay. I tried to give them a bit of privacy, but Casey noticed I was keeping to myself and told me to wait for them.. so the three of us walked mostly together, with them stopping every once in a while for a little, um, business. It's not that I minded, really, I just felt 3rd-wheel like.

We got to the bar in Trastevere, and it was a dark, smokey place, with people sitting around on couches.. I didn't feel comfortable being there and wanted to leave. Pino led us through the bar, out a back door, through a courtyard, and into another room to a couch. I wanted to get out. I pulled Casey aside and told her I didn't want to stay here. "Okay, do you want me to walk you out?" Here she was concerned about walking me out and I was worried about leaving her there with this guy she hardly knew! I asked her about five times, are you okay if I leave you here with him? She told me she'd be fine, so I left. It was just after midnight, and I walked back to Largo Torre Argentina and took the night bus back to the hostel.

I hadn't ever been to Cinema Doria before, which is odd since it is so close by. I was impressed, especially when the THX trailer was played.. wow! A real movie theater! And I spent the next two hours magically transported to the Montmartre section of Paris. It was one of the best movies I've ever seen, and when it ended I wasn't sure whether I wanted to laugh or cry. I walked home with a huge smile on my face, and laughed out loud when, at the corner, saw a photo booth, which plays a big part of the movie.

It was about 10 when I got home and Jenny hadn't yet eaten, so we called the pizzeria up the street and placed an order. I left to go pick up the pizzas, and was kind of bouncing/dancing down the stairs, and suddenly at the bottom there was a man in the lobby--I guess he wasn't expecting me because he jumped! "Buona sera!" I said, feeling rather silly, and he just smiled and wished me a good evening back.. I love how a night at the movies can put me into such a good mood.

I decided to continue my Caravaggio search today. I had done some internet research, trying to find the true location of a paint of Saint Frances... According to my book it was at Palazzo Barberini, but I had been there a few months ago and I was sure it wasn't there. A web site said it was at Palazzo Venezia, and that was where I went this morning.

I had actually tried to go to this museum a few times in the past two weeks, but they are only open from 9-1, and I never seem to get out of bed early enough. Today I made an effort and set my alarm for 8 (seemed like only a few minutes after I had gone to bed), and was out of the hostel by 8.45. I took the metro to Lepanto and then the bus from there (much faster on the 70 Express than my dreaded 492), and after stopping in the church of San Marco (only spent a few minutes, because there was only one other man in the church, and he was kind of following me), I went to Palazzo Venezia.

Palazzo Venezia is, appropriately, located on Piazza Venezia, and it was from this building that Mussolini used to give his famous speeches to the people of Rome. Their collection was pretty small, paintings sorted by period in about 6 rooms.. but suddenly the collection switched to bronze figurines, then pottery, then tapestries.. where was Caravaggio? I made my way through the whole museum, and then went back to the painting section to see if I hadn't missed it.. but it wasn't there. Oh well. On my way out I stopped to ask the man at the front desk, and he gave me a look like, "Oh, right, you think we have a Caravaggio painting here??!" I thanked him and left, stopping in Sant'Andrea della Valle, which is the second highest domed church in Rome (after Saint Peter's) and then in my beloved Feltrinelli, to see if I could find a book about art in Rome. I wasn't very successful, so I gave up and took the bus back to the hostel.

Alex was there when I got back, and I decided to take a nap seeing as I didn't get very much sleep the night before. Jenny woke me up when lunch was ready, and then it was time for me to work. Another eventful evening!

While I was home over Christmas, Piera had sent me an email asking me if I wanted go to see a musical in March. Notre Dame de Paris is supposedly sweeping Europe, and tickets had just gone on sale for the Rome dates. Piera could get discounted tickets through the university, so I said sure.. how often do I get to go to the theater?!

The show was set to start at 9, and Piera told me we'd be leaving her apartment at 6.10.. what?! Wasn't it taking place in Rome, I asked. She laughed and said yes, but it was on the other side of town. So just after six she, Maria Lucia, Maria Pia, Massimo, and I left her apartment. We took one bus to Tiburtina station and a second bus to the university. From there (and after about a 20 minute wait, and it was already cold and none of us had dressed well enough) we took a type of shuttle bus across town to God knows where.. the driver let us off just after a bridge, told us we had to walk down the hill, catch a third bus, and it would let us off in front of the theater. And so we started walking, which turned out to be not down a hill but down a hill and six blocks further, where we waited for a bus, and then when it finally arrived, found out it really didn't pass by the theater but about four blocks short.. needless to say when we finally arrived at the theater, 2 1/2 hours later, I was already exhausted. And a little irritated, since it turned out the theater was relatively close to the stadium. I asked Piera why we hadn't just taken the metro to Flaminio, and then the tram to the stadium and then the same bus we had taken to four blocks from the theater, and she told me that Roma was playing tonight and it was best we avoided the stadium. And a taxi? No, too many of us. I know there must have been an easier way to arrive!

Niky, Davide, and Lucia arrived shortly after us, and we went to find our seats, which were in the back towards the center. The musical began a few minutes later. It was pretty awesome, a lot of acrobatics going on behind the main storyline of Quasimodo and Esmeralda, but I had a little trouble following it. I'm sure it was partly because I was so tired, but I found myself not understanding a lot of the vocabulary, and picking songs apart for words. At intermission I asked Piera and she said the same thing--actually, everybody else did, so I felt a little better! Lucia had brought her binoculars and we passed them back and forth between us, but especially to Piera and Paola, the musical freaks.

The play ended around 11.30 and when all the encores finally finished it was about 11.50. Rome's buses run until midnight, so we ran to the bus stop. We took the bus to another bus stop, where we were able to catch a night bus to Piazza Venezia.. then another night bus to Termini, and a third night bus back to Piera's. It was about 2.30 by the time we arrived, and we were all cold and hungry. Piera whipped together some pasta for us, and we ate and said goodbye. I was staying at Maria Lucia's because Piera had Davide and Massimo staying with her. Luckily Maria Lucia just lives across the street, and we got to her apartment, got ready for bed, and I fell asleep nearly immediately.

I had forgotten it was Saint Patrick's Day until around lunchtime, when Matt from Philadelphia was checking his email. He told me that he and his friends were going to a pub that was making cheesesteaks for the holiday.. I didn't get the connection, until he explained that the pub owner was from Philadelphia, and he was having a St. Patrick's Day party that included cheesesteaks. I expressed my jealousy, and Matt invited me along, but since I was working I couldn't go. He said he'd bring me one back, but I didn't really believe him.. so imagine my surprise when, around 7, Matt showed up--he had brought me a cheesesteak! What a guy! I told him he was my favorite hostel guest ever and he said, "Really?!" and I said, "Well it sure sounds nice, doesn't it!?" I thanked him profusely and gobbled it up. Awesome.

It was pretty slow for most of the evening, since almost all the guests had gone out. I spent a while playing on the internet and ended up going to bed before midnight--relatively early for me!

On Thursday morning I woke up around ten and decided I would go outside that day. While I was making myself a cup of tea Meghan from Canada (who studies at UCSB) arrived. Her sister is studying in Rome and was in class until 5. I told her I was going down to the Vatican and that she was welcome to come with me. She took me up on it, and we walked down after first stopping in a bar for a cappuccino and a pastry. This is Meghan's first time in Europe and it was so great to see and hear her reactions to everything.. "Look how tiny that car is! Check out that marble statue!" I'm so glad I'm not the only one who does this!

My goal at the Vatican was to get tickets for the masses on Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. When I had come last week a nun had told me I needed to ask at the bronze gate.. now it was just a matter of finding the gate! I thought it was the doorway just to the right of the church entrance, but as we were walking towards it a guard stopped us--for some reason they had closed the church and were not allowing any other visitors to enter. Hmmm.. I asked him about the tickets, and he said I needed to go to the other side of the piazza, but when we got there we were stopped by another guard. Grrr. There was a crowd of people standing around and I worked my way up to the front and asked him about the tickets. He let us through--I felt so special; here I had the secret password to enter!

After a little confusion I found the famous bronze gate, and there a third guard sent us up the stairs to the Swiss guards.. I have always seen these men in their silly striped uniforms but here I actually had to talk to him.. yikes! Meghan and I walked up the stairs a little slowly, but the guy was really nice. He spoke to us in thickly-accented English, and directed us through the second door and up the stairs to the first floor (in Italy, the ground floor is NOT the first floor.. always causes me problems) to the door on the left. Suddenly Meghan and I found ourselves walking up a marble staircase--alone--would they know if we went off exploring? I couldn't see being kicked out of the Vatican a good thing, so we just went to the ticket office, got the tickets, and left.

It was only about noon so Meghan and I just walked around the nearby streets, stopping for something to drink and to look in shop windows. It was a gorgeous day, about 70 degrees, and I wanted to stay outside as long as I could and take advantage of the nice weather! We went back to the hostel around 2, and Jenny had lunch waiting for me. I worked the evening shift, which was relatively uneventful. Matt and Greg from Canada had gone out together to do some sightseeing and came back with a gift for Jenny and me--a plant. I think it's a violet (not too good with my flowers), and I again proclaimed him my most favorite hostel guest ever. I was looking forward to turning in early, except 6 or so guests were late and didn't arrive until after midnight... I was more than ready for bed!

I was a little worried I wouldn't remember what Esme looked like, but it didn't matter. The metro was crowded and it took me a bit to work my way up to the train station level, so I was able to spot Esme looking around and glancing at her watch as I approached from the other side of the train station. I was only about five minutes late. She told me about her trip down, said that she had already been to see the Colosseum and Roman Forum, and had to stop back at her hostel because she had forgotten to take her medicine. So we headed over to Fawlty Towers, just down the street, so Esme could take her medicine and I could check out the competition.

I figured I'd take Esme on my regular "introduce someone to Rome" tour--the Spanish steps, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, and Piazza Navona. We took the metro to the Spanish steps, then stopped in an English language bookstore just down the street. Esme said she's been devouring books since she's been in Monteviale (I did the same thing!) and wanted to buy Bridget Jones' Diary. We found it and she bought it. English language books in Italy are rather expensive, especially if you're working off a nanny salary, and I offered to give her a book or two from the book exchange at the hostel. We took the metro over there, but due to some reason (never quite figured it out) the metro was only running as far as Lepanto, two stops short. The lines for the buses were packed, so I decided it would just be easier to walk.

It took us little longer than I thought it would, and by the time we left the hostel again it was around 7, and Esme had to be back to her hostel to pay at 8. So we headed back there again. After she paid we went up to her room, where she got ready to go out for the evening. Then we headed over to Campo de'Fiori. There are a few bars there that seem to be full of English-speaking tourists, and I figured that Esme would be up to it, since she speaks Italian almost exclusively. We stopped for dinner at a Chinese restaurant on the way. We both ordered egg rolls, and I got a fried noodle and vegetable dish and she ordered sweet and sour pork. We were just about finished with our meal when she said to me, "It's 10.30!" I didn't realize it was so late, and her hostel had an 11 pm curfew. We finished eating, got the bill, paid, and as we were running to the bus stop the bus we wanted passed us! We managed to make it, and got on and sat down. I'm still pretty congested, and the running in the cold air caused me to break into a coughing fit. The man sitting in front of me turned around and said, "Fumi troppo." You smoke too much. I was horrified--I have never smoked in my life, and told him just that! "Well," he said, "you spend too much time in the discos." I just kind of shrugged my shoulders, and he said, "What, now you're going to tell me you never go to discos?" and I said, "No, it's just that I don't want to tell you I'm full of germs." That seemed to work, as he turned around and didn't talk to me again!

We arrived back at Esme's hostel precisely at 11, and went up to her room. She told me she was planning to take a guided tour of Saint Peter's and the Vatican Museums the next morning. I had to work the following night, so I said that I probably wouldn't see her, but told her to give me a call if she decided not to go on the guided tour. "Well," she said, "why don't we just plan to meet at the Vatican at 10?" I said okay, and told her I'd see her the next morning.

I walked back to the train station and took the metro back to the hostel. Matt, who had bought me the cheesesteak the other day, was back (he had gone traveling up in Northern Italy for a few days). I sat up talking with him until about 2 am, when I finally went to bed.. about four hours later than I originally wanted!

I took the metro down one stop to Ottaviano, and as I was walking down the street toward the Vatican I noticed it seemed unusally packed.. and that a lot of people were wearing red hats. It turned out to be a demonstration, one of many that took place around Rome today (there was another in Circus Maximus, and a third near Tiburtina Station. According to the press there were two million people in town protesting, but I'm not sure for what.. it was some kind of pro-democracy, anti-terrorism, against Article 18, remember Carlo Giuliani (a protester who was killed last year during the G8 summit in Genova)... to me it really seemed to be just a protest in general, and everyone chose their own reason. Regardless, they came out in full force, and there was no way I was going to make it down the street and arrive in time for Esme's and my appointment.

I decided I'd go down a block and walk on the next street, and when I got there and away from the noise I called Esme. She too was stuck in the middle of it, and we said we'd see each other when we got there. I was about to cross the street into Piazza Risorgimento when I noticed a pharmacy on the corner.. I need some cough syrup!

I went inside the pharmacy and looked around. Pharmacies in Italy are a little different, and even the medications vary a bit--some that require a prescription in the States don't in Italy, and vice versa. I wasn't sure about cough syrup, so I went up and asked the woman behind the counter, happy that I remembered the word for cough, la tosse. She reached behind her to a too-conveniently located shelf containing cough syrups.. obviously I'm not the only one with this problem! She told me to take a spoonful three times a day, easy enough, so I paid her and left, taking a swig from the bottle when I got outside.. who knew when I'd be in the vicinity of a spoon next!

I finally made it to the obelisk in the center of the piazza where Esme and I were supposed to meet, but she wasn't yet there. I called her on my mobile; she said she was just entering the piazza. I looked over and saw her, and waved so she could spot me too. Then we went into the church. I gave Esme the Nancy guided tour, pointing out my favorite things: the Pietà, the Baldacchino, the statue of Saint Veronica. I must have given her the impression I was something of an expert, as she asked me about things that I didn't know too! "Oh.. um... that's a... painting... of Mary Queen of Angels.." I didn't make anything up, but it definitely put my ego back in check!

I was hoping that Esme would get a chance to visit the Vatican Museums, but I forgot that they closed earlier on Saturday, and when we arrived they had closed the big bronze doors out front. Instead we took a walk down to Castel Sant'Angelo, crossed the river and started walking in the direction of Piazza Navona. We didn't get that far, because we came across an Irish pub that was showing the Newcastle-Arsenal soccer match on TV, and Esme refused to not sit inside and root for her home team! So we had lunch at the bar, I got a salad that was kind of yucky and way overpriced, and Esme got to see her home team lose 3-0. Afterwards it was off to work for me! I showed Esme where to catch her bus back to the hostel and left in the opposite direction.

We had made plans to meet at 9.15 for the 10 am mass, and I arrived on time with Esme just behind me. It was kind of cold, and the wind was blowing, and I kind of wished I was a little better dressed. There were people everywhere selling palm leaves, and we went to buy a few while we were waiting. Still Piera & co. hadn't arrived. I tried to call her mobile, but it told me she was unavailable--okay, that's the general message you get when you try to call someone who is on the metro. About 5 minutes later my phone buzzed--it was a message from Piera telling me they had run into a "problem with tickets" and would be late.. okay. And we waited.. and waited.. and waited. Esme was getting impatient and I felt really bad that here she was waiting for people she didn't even know. I told her (though I was sure she wouldn't accept, but wanted to free her from any obligation) that she could go ahead and we'd meet up after the mass, but she said no. The music started in the piazza.. the mass was starting.. and finally Piera, Maria Lucia, Maria Pia, and Paola arrived!

The tickets I had gotten the other day were supposed to give us seats in the piazza, but by this time they were all full. Thank goodness Maria Pia was with us, and she went to a guard and complained that we had tickets and there were no seats left! The guard told us there were more seats up front and we started walking.. and walking.. and suddenly we were on the stage, about 50 feet away from the pope! This was not happening!! We couldn't believe our good luck!

The Palm Sunday mass is one of my favorites; unfortunately about halfway through it I found myself wishing it would hurry up and end. The weather was just crazy. It was sunny but windy, and I wasn't cold as long as the sun was out.. but every time it dipped behind a cloud I got cold again. At one point, though, just before communion, the wind really picked up, blowing things everywhere and bringing raindrops with it. People started getting up and leaving, and I looked at my friends with hesitation. We are all cold, it showed, but I was not about to leave and give up my awesome seat, even though, like me, Maria Lucia and Maria Pia were just getting over being sick, Piera and Paola were just starting to feel run down, and Esme was not at all dressed warm enough. I was determined to stick it out... and, about 20 minutes later, the sun came back out, the wind died down, and it was sunny and nice again. Whew!

When the mass was over, everyone started gathering along the sides of the piazza. After all the masses, the pope gets in the Popemobile and is driven through the piazza, so everyone gets a chance to see him a little closer up. There weren't too many people standing in the section where we were, but I stood back a bit on a step with Maria Pia (we're just about the same height). We were right near the beginning of the pope's journey, and as his car came into sight we all started waving and cheering. Every time I see the pope I just get all giddy and overwhelmed.. he is such an inspirational man! Anyway, I was in my state of shock, and suddenly I notice there is a guard holding a little girl of about 1 1/2 in his hand (really--in ONE hand!!) and taking her towards the popemobile. In what seemed like slow motion, the pope glanced to his right, noticed the guard with the little girl, told the driver to stop, and leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. A collective "Ahhhh!" came from the audience and tears started pouring down my face (I'm getting teary again just writing about it!). Piera turned around and said, "I knew it!! I knew you'd be crying!!" How could I not.. it was one of the most beautiful moments I have ever seen! Why oh why didn't I buy that digital camera--this would have been the perfect opportunity!!

Piera and her friends were planning to go out to lunch and invited Esme and me to join them. We accepted, but being as it was Sunday and it was Palm Sunday and we were at the Vatican.. we finally found a restaurant a few blocks away that was open and not too crowded, but was definitely overpriced. It was fun, but Esme and I mostly held back and listened to the conversation. Sometimes when Piera and her friends get going I have a hard time following the conversation, so I can imagine that Esme was even more lost than I was.

By the time lunch was over it was time for me to head back to the hostel for work, so we all walked to the metro together and said our goodbyes. I got back and Alex and Angela were there, and I recounted them the story of the pope kissing the little girl, getting all teary eyed once again..

I left this morning with no real idea where I was going. I took the metro to Termini, and on the way there flipped through my Mini Rough Guide.. was there anything I still hadn't seen? And there was, l'Abbazia delle Tre Fontane, the Abbey of the Three Fountains. The abbey is in southern Rome, and is the spot of Saint Paul's martyrdom. He was beheaded, and where his head bounced three times, three springs erupted. The guidebook called it a nice peaceful spot, so I took the metro down to Laurentina, the very last stop (I had never been that far before!) and then consulted a bus map. It showed the 761 passing right by the abbey, so I went to the stop, asked a woman waiting if this was the right direction, and, when the bus came, hopped on.

Now, I should have asked the bus driver if he could tell me where to get off, but the map showed the abbey surrounded by green--like in a park--so I figured I would see it. I didn't. When the bus arrived at the metro stop for Marconi, about five stops from where I got off, I knew I had gone too far. I got off the bus, crossed the street, and took the next passing bus back in the opposite direction. Except that this bus didn't go back to the Abbey, so when we arrived at a piazza with a bunch of other bus lines, I hopped off. Then I noticed my surroundings. I was in EUR.

EUR, the Esposizione Universale Roma, was built by Mussolini for the 1942 World's Fair.. which in turn didn't happen due to a little disturbance called World War II. The whole area is full of white marble, Fascist-y buildings, that seemed more Los Angeles than anything I had ever seen in Italy. It was really kind of a shock to see this so un-Italy part of Italy. I asked a bus driver which bus would take me back to the Abbey, and while I was waiting for it to arrive read what the guidebook had to say. They described a building just across the way, the Palazzo della Civiltà del Lavoro, as a "square Colosseum" because of it's mixture of classical and modern style architecture.. which describes it perfectly.

My bus arrived and I got on, and we left again. You think the second time I'd ask the driver where to get off.. but when the bus passed Via delle Tre Fontane I knew I had to be close. Just off the corner was a parking lot and a sign advertising the villa of the Monachi Trappisti.. wait, the Trappist Monks! I remembered that from the guidebook! I walked down the parking lot to a gate at the far end.. but this seemed more of a residence than the three churches the guidebook described. I could see a chuch beyond the buildings, and wondered if there wasn't a second entrance. There was, about 20 feet away. And so I finally arrived, but it was during the siesta and everything was closed. Sigh. I walked around a little, then took the bus and the metro back home. While I was sitting on the metro, I noticed a woman sitting across from me reading a magazine with an article about Billy Joel and Elton John--I wanted that magazine too!! It was the music supplement from one of the newspapers, and I bought it as soon as I got to my metro stop. My night of reading was set!

Except that they had a mass going on. I stood in the piazza for a while, watching the mass on the giant TV screens, and then noticed they were still letting people into the church, so I too went inside. It was packed, but they were letting people without tickets watch from the back. I stood and listened for a bit, then looked at my watch. It was about 5.30. I still wanted to go to confession, so I walked back to the metro station and went to Santa Susana, which is the American church in Rome. They weren't doing confession, but had a mass scheduled to start at 6. I stayed for the mass, and afterwards went back to the hostel to change. I had one more holy activity on the night's agenda.

On Good Friday last year I watched the Via Crucis, the Stations of the Cross, on television. The pope performed the service at the Colosseum, and I knew they were doing it again this year and I had big plans to be there. But, it was kind of windy outside and I wanted to be better dressed. While I was at the hostel I invited a few other guests to come with me, and Lorenzo from Long Beach and Petrice from New Zealand took me up on the offer. We took the metro to Lepanto and then the express bus, which wasn't very express tonight, as we arrived about 40 minutes late and just in time for the 7th station (of 14 total). The service wasn't actually performed in the Colosseum but just across the way in the Roman Forum. After a few minutes I noticed there was someone sitting in a chair just behind the railing. "Lorenzo," I whispered, leaning over, "is that the pope sitting there?" And it was.

I've been reading a lot of things on the internet about how this year is the first time in 24 years that the pope hasn't been performing all of the Holy Week activities.. the man is nearly 82 years old!!! Give him a break!! Yes, he is old. Yes, his health is deteriorating. But I honestly think his presence at the ceremony is enough.. it is so inspirational just to see him--he doesn't have to say a single thing.

After the 14th station the pope read a speech in Italian, and I assumed he was going to follow with ones in English, French, German, and/or Polish as usual, but there appeared to be some problem. One of the... other holy guys (bishop? monsignor? cardinal?) leaned in to talk to him, and in the midst of the muffled conversation I clearly heard the pope say the word "basta." We all kind of smiled, and everyone clapped--not a single person was disappointed.

My Italian is good enough that I could go to confession in Italian. However, Jenny and I have talked about this, and it sometimes seems that things are easier to say in Italian--that is, that maybe there is less feeling behind the words, or they don't seem to be really my thoughts as much as they would be my thoughts in English.

I was getting desperate, so we went to Santa Maria Maggiore. I asked a guard if it was possible to do a confession in English. "Well," he said, looking around, "not now." He pointed to the confessionals where English was spoken, and they were all closed, but told me the hours would be posted if I wanted to check them. The first booth said that they did confession in English from 8-10. It was 8.30. The next booth listed hours in the afternoon, and the one after that said 10 am. I was approaching the booth after that and the guard approached me, telling me that the priest had arrived at the first confessional. And so, after trying all week, I was able to give my confession to an Australian priest, and now I'm absolved of my sins. About time.

It was still early (like 9 am! I'm normally still in bed at this time!) and I had all morning to do whatever I wanted. First stop was to Tiburtina station, to buy my bus ticket to Puglia.. yep, I'm off to see Marianna and family on Monday! Unfortunately, I hadn't planned it quite well. The ticket was 21.67. I had 21.15 in my wallet--and that was IT. Great. I apologized to the woman, telling her I didn't have enough. "There's a bancomat [an ATM] in the train station." 52 cents and she's sending me away! Grr... I walked back to the train station, finding only 1 eurocent on the ground (51 more to go...) and took 50 euro out of the bancomat. I went back and paid for the ticket, and then had plenty of money left over to buy myself a cappuccino and a cornetto for breakfast, then a gift for Marianna (cannot arrive in Puglia without a gift for Marianna), and then I decided to head back to the Abbey of the Three Fountains. Now that I knew where it was I arrived in much less time. Two of the abbey's three churches were open. San Paolo alle Tre Fontane is on the spot where Saint Paul was martyred. There is a path leading to the church, the same path upon which Saint Paul walked... just a quiet, peaceful little trail, lined on both sides with trees. The church was small, with the sound of water running from the so-named fountains.. or so I thought, until some man came in and did something to turn off the water. The second church, Santa Maria della Scala Coeli, Saint Mary of the Holy Stairs, was named after a vision Saint Bernard had of the soul for whom he was praying ascending into Heaven. It had a blue ceiling with stars, just like Santa Maria in Aracoeli, a church near the Colosseum. After sitting in the sun for a while (and being befriended by some random cats) I stopped in the Abbey's gift shop to check out their goodies The Trappist Monks drained the swamp that was here and planted groves of eucalyptus trees in its place, and according to my guidebook they sell a chest remedy made from eucalyptus.. I should have come last week!

It was just after noon when I left the abbey and since I hadn't taken a lot of time to see EUR I headed back over. The weather was nice and sunny and it felt soo nice to be outside. I walked from one end of EUR to the other, stopping to examine the "square Colosseum," the Egyptian obelisk stuck right in the middle of a huge boulevard, and two huge symmetrical fountains in front of two half-circle shaped symmetrical buildings.

There are four museums located at EUR and I decided to visit one of them, the Museo della Civiltà Romana, the Museum of Roman Civilization. It was definitely worth the entrance fee, if only for the opportunity to read the following quote:

Se c'è un popolo che ha il diritto di rendere sacre le sue origini e di riportarle agli dei, questo popolo è il romano.

Which, translated, means, "If there is a people who has the right to make sacred their origins and to trace themselves back to the gods, that people is the Romans." This quote, from the Latin writer Livy, dates back to who knows when, but seems so appropriate, even today. There is just something about Rome...

After leaving the museum it was about time for me to head back to work, and I looked around for a bus line that would take me back to the metro. Instead I found a bus that would take me all the way back to Cipro, the metro stop near the hostel! And so I took a bus ride, seeing neighborhoods of Rome I had never visited.. it was great, except I felt kind of stupid when I didn't even recognize my own neighborhood from about two blocks away!

I had gotten my ticket for the Easter mass over a week ago, and woke up around 8.30 for the 10.30 mass (daylight savings time thrown in did not help me). A number of guests from the hostel were going, and some were already on their way out the door when I was just climbing out of bed! I got dressed, grabbed my camera, and was out the door by 9. I stopped for breakfast at a bar down the street and while I was waiting for the metro David and Seashal showed up, so we went to the mass together.

I already knew I wouldn't have seats as close as last week, and I was fine with it, as long as I had a seat! When we arrived, just before 9.30, the piazza was filling up quickly. They had already run out of the booklets (much to my dismay), so the three of us had to make do with my "Guide to the Mass in 8 Languages" that I had bought a few weeks ago. It worked just well enough. The mass was all in Latin, so none of us understood that well, and I was not amused that the American family with three girls sitting in front of us weren't even LOOKING at their booklets!

The mass took about two hours, and the Pope did the whole thing. My favorite part of the masses at the Vatican is when the Pope does the greetings in a variety of different languages, and all the visitors who speak that language stand up and cheer and wave flags around. There was a group from the Netherlands behind us, and a few rows in front of us was a group of Ukranians.. I think they cheered the loudest! Throughout the ceremony the woman next to me and I kept telling each other random things, in Italian, or so I thought.. When the mass was over, and I wished her and her husband a happy Easter, she said to me, "We are Greek!" Oh, okay! I just laughed. No wonder I had had some trouble understanding her!

David and Seashal invited me to join them for lunch, and on our fourth try we found a restaurant that was open and where we didn't need reservations. I decided to be daring, I don't know why, and ordered the seafood risotto. I should have known better, as a plate full of rice, clams, mussels, and shrimp (eyes and all) was presented to me. I tried not to make a huge deal out of it as I turned the plate around so the shrimp weren't looking at me, and nonchalantly offered David the shrimp, which he did take (obviously, food with eyes don't bother him). We had a great meal, even dessert, and it was just about 3 pm when we finished and time for me to head back for work. While I had been gone Jenny made me a little treat with Nutella, and Alex and Angela had brought each of us a giant Easter egg with a surprise inside (Jenny's had a slinky, mine a yo-yo).

We were full for the evening, and it really wasn't too bad. After watching the Formula 1 race from Brazil I was delighted to see that Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was on TV, and even managed to attract other non-Italian-speaking guests into watching it with me. All in all, a great end to a great day.