Italy - Day One

Here we are in Rome, or as they call it here, Roma. I know we have different languages, but it seems like place names should be the same.  Something else we could agree on it electricity. Our plugins have the two rectangular prongs. In Europe they are cylindrical. And apparently Southern Europe's are different than Northern Europe's. We have an adaptor, but its a bit of unnecessary bother. Let's compromise. Rest of the world - switch to the U.S. style of plug-ins. Meanwhile, we'll switch over to the metric system.  Problem solved. If I could just be king of the world a couple years I think I could fix a lot of stuff.

The bus trip into Roma was fun. They pointed out the tombs of emperors Hadrian and Augustus. I saw them fleetingly which turns out to be as close as I'll get. Close enough, I guess. That will have to be enough to satisfy my morbid fascination with famous people's graves sites.

We went to the Trevi Fountain. According to the Frank Sinatra movie, three coins in the fountain means you will return. I don't plan on returning and I'm incredibly cheap, so no to that. By the way, unbelievable crowded. We're here during Holy Week, so it may be crowded a lot of the times. There really is nothing to do here. I'm not sure the reason for the big crowd. Look and leave.

Next was the Panthenon. I've been outside it once, but never inside. I had heard the dome is a hemisphere and if it were a complete sphere it would just barely scrape the floor. How cool. Looking at it, that seems quite plausible. And the Parthenon contains the grave of Raphael (ca-ching). By the way, I won't be making any jokes about Mutant Ninja Turtles of the same name. I will have ample opportunity, but it's just too easy.

Overall, very fun day. I have made a vow with myself to not become aggrieved with the out of control selfie situation. Are famous places really made better with your face blocking most of it? Apparently it is. Below is my non-selfie pic of the Trevi Fountain.