the one where i try to buy wine speaking only italian: surprisingly i depart the store with cheap, good vino

buonosera … ai prosecco … si … si … quanto costa … prego … grazi … buonosera …

the last thing we did yesterday was have a crash course in italian. despite the ennui and fatigue, it was amazingly helpful and just as the title of the post indicates — that totally happened. not to mention, waitresses, the front desk staff and romans alike seem to be strangely enamoured and find my butcher attempts at speaking endearing. or at least i hope.

i am trying to keep an actual journal – the kind that takes a pen not a plug – while i’m abroad. at dinner last night while e was in the restroom, i forced myself to write a few words re: day 2 in rome.

and it was a struggle. yesterday was one of those days where we packed four days into one. we went to the vatican, visited the musuem there and the sistine chapel and the piazza and st. peter’s basilica … and still managed to see the colloseum and the palatine hill. rome wasn’t built in a day, and it sure wasn’t meant to visited in one either …

luckily, we still have a while left here, as e & i don’t depart until friday as we are presenting at a conference. it is a nice feeling to know that we don’t have to rush around the city and see everything AND anything at once.

there is still plenty to do and see and have happen today. we are attending the finals of the european beach soccer league, which should prove to be high in temperature and excitement. it’s been in the upper 80s here and it shouldn’t surprise anyone that i got burnt on the first day here.

also, there is an exhibit at the galleria nazionale d’arte moderna. the cy twombly career retrospective ends today – just a solid full circle that a fellow general and a lexington-based artist would be featured in a museum less than a kilometer from our hotel.

NB: If these posts and pictures don’t do the trip justice, and you need a little more fodor and stalking material on what we gophers are up to, please check out our group blog, twitter and flickr. va bene.