Thursday, September 14, 2006

The Rain in Spain Falls Mostly on the Plains...

We are still in Rome but I enjoy that rhyme so thought I would start with it. Two more days until we fly to Barcelona. It has been nice staying in one place for a few days and more relaxing. Today we walked down the street to the Coliseum. I decided not to go in but to just read and check things out around the area.

Erin and Sandra went inside and I must say, it was cool to see Erin totally awestruck by the place. They both took a lot of pictures and enjoyed it though after their walk up to the top of St. Peters yesterday, they opted to take the lift rather than go to the top of the Coliseum by foot.

From my perspective, it is an odd thing to see the Coliseum, so old and glorious and to sit on a ledge writing in my journal and then the next minute to walk across the street into a busy metro station, so ordinary. That is the coolest part about Rome for me, just experiencing the modern and the historic within one city block.

It began raining early this afternoon and now it is pouring. As the weather changed, the street vendors changed as well. Around the Coliseum, the postcard and statue vendors closed shop coving their stands in blue and clear plastic tarps. On cue, guys with umbrellas populated the surrounding area first selling umbrellas for 5 Euro each. Over the course of 30 minutes, the price decreased to 3Euro each or 2 for 5Euro. We didnt buy but I have had fun coming up with different ways of saying no. When the sun returns, I think the umbrella guys should keep up their business by calling the parasols...high fashion here.

Will write again soon, maybe not until Spain if there is nothing interesting to say. We have a few more places to see while we are here in Rome and are hopeful the weather will clear. The lightening and thunder indicate that our evening will be spent indoors. I know that tomorrow I will visit a record store, for sure, to pick up the new Elton John album 4 days before it drops in The States. Just because I'm in Europe doesn't mean I am any less dorky!

Ciao!

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