Rome

Trevi Fountain--beautiful, if you can see it through the throngs of tourists.


Thane and Annie on a bridge with St. Peter's basilica in the background.

A fountain at Piazza Nuova. It looks like the trident-wielding statue is spearing Annie's head. (Perhaps, he's never seen a redhead before.)

It's Tourist Day at the Spanish Steps. Oh wait. Every day is Tourist Day at the Spanish Steps. Rome would be even better if the Roman-to-tourist ratio were higher. Not that we should complain since we're part of the problem.

La pieta', la carita', e l'amore. Sorry, little Italian missionary humor here (props to the two people who will actually get this joke.) No actually, just La Pieta (Piety), a statue Michelangelo did as a young man. Exquisite and moving, but behind glass ever since a hammer-carrying madman thought he could improve it by eliminating Mary's nose.



Peter holding the "keys of the kingdom." Thane got obsessed with keys and the notion of ecclesiastical authority so he took pictures of everything with keys--doors, cars, pianos. Just kidding, only symbolic keys of course. The symbol of the Vatican is a set of keys though.

Thane and Annie inside the Roman Colosseum. Nothing like a romantic date watching two gladiators fight for their lives. "Honey, could you pass the popcorn."

Thane with an old missionary companion, Marco Lui, who is now an Italian actor. We actually saw commercials for his TV show. Marco is a very funny guy.

Last night in Rome. Funny, no one wanted to sit next to the Americans. Sigh. At least the food was good.