epicenter of epic..Thursday the 5ifth after classes

This is Don E. He was my roomate in Rome. He also just finished his second year, at Roger Williams in Rhode Island. When I met him, I asked if he had been to the Roger Williams Zoo in the same town. He had not, so I told him all about it. Liana and Vinna and I had visited there in October 2002. For a younger student, he is higher on the evolutionary spectrum when it comes to smarts and wisdom. He also knows to keep his mouth shut when he has nothing of substance to add. He successfully avoided embarrassing our home country. After an epic lunch at some off-beaten-cobblestone-path ristorante, that was full of locals only, he and I made it to the Pantheon. I kept wanting to say Parthenon, but that is Greece. I had to use the 80's classic, Nemesis, to keep my relics straight.

The Pantheon ceiling.

An excellent use of light and shadow, of what I do not know.
The inside...the crowds...the cameras.
A crown and sceptre. The exterior. Built to survive a quake or two.
Here is a lesson...when you see goofballs dressed like this guy, do not interact with him, he will want money for his antics. Too late, my classmates warned me. He gently requested 3 euro, for which I offered him 1. He was a little upset, made faces at my female classmates, but did take the 1 as I started walking away.
As you can see, one simply takes pictures of the (insert attraction here) and moves on. Recall the scene in A Room With A View when the Rev. Eagar "...pities you english tourists not a little." As they are shuttled off from Florence to Rome, Rome to Venice, only wanting to be "done" or "through" each city? That still happens, 100 years later. Even I, yes I, have a won a victory for the comic muse. I am guilty of it myself.






As for the day, we moved from the Pantheon toward the Spanish steps and gelatto. If I had a band, I might name it after this building:


This tower accompanied the building of Il Tempo...
The steps. A good place to sit and have gelatto.

The floating head of baldness is seen at the steps, so I photo him.
At the top of the steps, post-gelatto. Looking back down the street.A large building.

We had walked all over Wednesday evening to the Coliseum. Someone else has those pics, I left my camera in my room, as I thought we were only going to dinner. Which, by the way, was, awesome. I had Osso Buco, prepared just right. The marrow was primo.

On the fifth, we had classes in the morning, then this walking tour, then Don and I went back to the room and slept for about 3 hours. We got up and went to dinner with 6 others. Sea Bass baked in two inches of salt was my dish. It was fabulous.