Sunday, October 12, 2008

Intuitto Gratis?!

In the morning, Katie's face was so swollen she could barely see out of her left eye. Those mosquitos really ate her alive. Lorenzo took us to a pharmacy for yet another kind of medicine. We wished we could ice it, but apparently Europeans don't believe in ice.
We came back, got ready for our day, and headed straight to the Colloseum. We checked it out, but didn't go inside, as the line looked about a mile long.
We then attempted to get into the Roman Forum and Palatino, which are ancient ruins, and on our fourth attempt with another locked gate, we gave up. By that time we had seen almost all of it from the outside anyway.
We checked out the monument to Victor Emmanuel II, aka "Vittoriano", which is a gigantic building made all of marble, the Captiol Square designed by Michelangelo, aka "il campidoglio," the Piazza Navona-which had a big market, but the fountain it is famed for was covered for restoration or something. Alsom Piazza Farnese had another cool market in the middle.
We went into the Pantheon, whihc is nothing like the Pantheon in Paris by the way. I was so spectacular that pictures couldn't even depict it-so we took a video for you folks back home.
We walked to the Torre Argentina with more gelato in hand, which house even more ancient ruins.
By this time our feet were achy, and we didn't even mention how warm it is outside-polar opposite of Belgium! We headed home to relax and phone Dr. Toth, medicine woman for all of Katie's medical woes.
We got a diagnosis and suggested medication from the doc, in medical terms of course, because they are the same across languages.
We grabbed some brew and pizza, along with some delicious cookies for dessert, and ate them at the house. Katie had seen a couple of ads for a John Legend concert tonight that said "Intuitto Gratis" which Katie said in spanish means free entry, so with our fingers crossed, we headed towards the show.
When we got there we found that indeed, it was free. It was an MTV concert in Piazza San Giovanni, with a bunch of Italian singers, then John Legend then the Cure.
Nicole had to pee so bad that we only stayed through a couple of John Legned songs(we missed the Cure-sorry fans!) and found the nearest restroom.
We thought about going back, but we were in the way front and trying to even get back into the plazza would have been a chalenge, so we headed home for a healthy night of sleep.

2 comments:

KT mom said...

I do hope that eye is getting better. Ice would be really helpful. Do get some mosquito repellent too. I'm glad it isn't hampering your city exploration

Samantha said...

I am bummed that you missed the Cure, but nature does call. ;)

I hope your eye is getting better, Katie! How awful!

Your experience in these cities is so different than mine...I never had any crowds or waits...I can't decide if it was just a different time of year, or if Europe is just getting more crowded!

Oh, and hadn't you heard that they haven't invented ice in Italy? :)