Some Boring Title

I woke up late today after refusing to go to sleep last night. I' bumped my head several times in the night by accident. We accidentally discovered a market on the way to Theremini, which was filled with cheap and beautiful goods. The quality of the jewelry is better here. The silver is really silver, the glass is really glass, and the design is beautiful. I got a vintage pendant and another amber pendant, a necklace made out of the inside of some shell, and a ceramic Roman-style necklace. I nearly bought some beads. I also got a plastic swatch which is about to become the new "fad", methinks, for extremely cheap because it is waterproof. A couple of the guys gave me discounts.

Most of the sellers were Indian. In fact, most of the people peddling goods are either east Asian or Indian. Apparently there is a large Indian population here, and a decent population of East Asians and African-Italians. I'm just reporting from the streets, not statistics, though, and that is skewed by the tourists.

The subway in Rome is only decent. It really needs more stops, and the maps of the subway/busses aren't free. What? I have to assume this is due to tourist season.

We were going to the Colosseum and the middle of Rome. The line was HUGE. Buy a Roma pass or reserve tickets. I cannot stress this enough. I got a parasol to deal with the burning sun. After a couple of mishaps my dad and I waited in line to go into the middle of Rome, and our faces nearly melted off. A single ticketwoman was dealing with more than two hundred people in a line which was constantly growing. By the end of the line I was almost too exhausted to walk inside. The forum, pallecento, etc was inside, and we saw them. But mostly both of us were struck by how sad the crumbling buildings that blended together were. Hints remained about how beautiful the buildings must have once been. Even though Rome was a corrupt tyranny at the end, the art should not have suffered. We half joked that ghosts must wander the streets because of the violence that happened there. It's obvious how great Rome must once have been. I've really come to appreciate their skill and finese. and it's amazing that their buildings still stand as well as they do.

We met my mom and aunt by a restraunt, where I ordered a seafood risotto that had whole baby squid in it. I was scarred, pretty much. I think I'll stop eating squid for the most part, as they are very intelligent. Also, scars.

Mom and I went into the Colloseum. What a work of architecture. This was much better organized than the other tourist-wise, and even had an elevator. I learned a lot about the history and organization of the structure inside the museum, which included many statues from its better days. The wooden floor has been removed so that the underchambers are visible. One of the things I learned is that the ruling emperor, who had pacificed Judea after its rebellion, declared himself emperor by force, but de-privitised many of the areas Nero had made so arbitrarily and built it as a public area on top of the artifical private lake Nero had created.

We're going to go out again tonight. Wheee.