Day 2

Hi All,

Day 2 saw the Blazers et al getting an early start on things and heading into Rome to see the Ancient City.  With Oswaldo driving and Bruno tour guiding we saw a few interesting sights along the way, including where the big Chariot race was filmed in Ben Hur.  The first major stop was at the Coliseum and you quickly realized that the Romans built things to last.  One could almost hear the echoes of past battles and hunts and the roar of the crowds.  We had a great guide for the morning and she made history come alive for us all.  We also walked the Spanish Steps, wandered through the Forum (amazing ruins), toured the Pantheon, threw coins in the Trevis Fountain and saw many other fabulous sites.  The tour also took some time to shop and try out some gelato for the first time...yummm!

Mind you, good things often come with a price and ours occurred while traversing a 1st century BC bridge when an enormous flock of probably 10 000 birds decided to use us as target practice.  That part of the tour ended quickly, but not before about 80% of us were hit by flying, actually "flying" wouldn't have been as bad, so we'll change that to..um.....falling bird poo.  It was a lovely time.

And during it all I found out that:

Doug loves to barter, Tracy has one kind of luck (and it's not the good kind), Darrell's a great poser/model, Ellen likes her coffee small (and tends to get lost when teamed up with Tracy), Sam loves sparkly things, Michael loves buying roses, Scott likes cold days but doesn't like asking questions in restaurants, Caitlin is bossy, Jessica likes crazy bandanas (and is not good at "pass the pig"), and Mr. Gillis is great at "pass the pig".  More observations tomorrow.  

Tomorrow we head to St. John's Cathedral and from there to Ortona.

Until then...