Buona sera!

Ah, globalization! I am sitting in a Mail Boxes, Etc. on the Via del Germanico in Rome, Italy. As I was having my caffé today, I figured the best way to keep in touch with all of you is the blog.

We arrived on Sunday, May 11th and we have been busy. We arrived in time to receive the Sunday blessing from Pope Benedict XVI, who gave the blessing in eight languages. I was proud that I could order breakfast in Italian!

Just the facts, ma'am, because I really don't want to be spending all my time here mastering the Euro keyboard.

We have visited:

• The Vatican Museums, including several rooms painted by Raphael...the most amazing being the room of signatures
• Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel
• The Piéta
• St. Peter's Basilica...including the corpus incoruptus of Pope John XXIII and a rather sinsiter likeness of Pope Pius XII
• The Colosseum
• The Roman Forum
• The Victor Emanuele Monument (not a favorite of true Romans)
• A wine tasting in a restaurant owned by a British expat
• A tour of the Borghese gallery that satisfies one's desires to see Carravaggio paintings...but Cardinal Scipione Borghese, who as the Vatican's Secretary of State had unlimited funds, also had an unlimited budget to collect and commission art
• Including Bernini sculptures that take the breath away, busts of the Roman emperors, and on and on
• A walking tour of Bernini and Borromolio works, the Piazza Navona, several churches
• The Pantheon, the only intact Roman pagan temple (it survives because it was made a gift to the Church)
• And we've had some incredible pastas, pizzas and gelati

Walking at least five miles each day.

I have filled nearly 60 pages in the journal in the first four days. I will definitely run out of ink...I may run out of pages in the new Moleskine.

Although I make the effort to speak in Italian, everyone, including the carbineri answer in English!