127 una vacanza con il marito

I'm back! Jason made it into town without being affected by the Gatorate terror restrictions last Thursday. He even made his connecting flight in Munich (30 minutes between touchdown and takeoff). I got to act like a tourist, running all over town, seeing the sites, and taking lots of photos. For example, here we are battling the crowds in the Vatican Museums:


And here we are after a delicious pizza lunch in front of Augustus' mausoleum... una pizza bianca dei fiori for me and una pizza diavola for Jason. Ask him sometime what he accidentally called our waitress when he was speaking Italian.


Here I am with some travertine cannonballs in one of the upper courtyards at Castel Sant'Angelo:


And here we are just being cah-yute & celebrating our 3rd anniversary:


Thanks for all the comments for when I was gone for the Ferragosto holiday. One of the more interesting comments was from a blogger in New Zealand, who linked to me on Around the World in 80 Blogs.

Enjoy the picture pages today!

126 non mi abbandonare

Hey look, it's another dog speaking in the 1st person. This little guy is asking you not to abandon him.

125 san pietro alle 07,00

If you are going to the Basilica of St. Peter's, I highly recommend going when it opens at 7 am. It is so peaceful and beautiful without swarms of people.


A floor grate in the Basilica: the popes' tombs are in the grotto below, and the Necropolis is the level below that.


The elephant was one of my favorite mosaics.


The basilica faces east; it's beautiful when the sun starts to come in around 07,30.

124 punteggiatura

The inappropriate use of quotes is now a worldwide phenomenon.

I saw this article in the NY Times today about Romans upping the prices on the 'stranieri' (foreigners). Good. It means I'm not just paranoid - this really exists!