Rome, Italy - November 1, 1999 .. November 7, 1999

Liz and I arrived in Rome roughly 15 hrs after departure. So, our first order of business after checking into the Nazionale Hotel was lunch. We found a very cool place to eat. The tables were outside in the street - yes the small cars, scooters and 'Aldoers' (tour groups-you'd have to see the video tape to understand that one) would walk/drive by your table as you eat lunch. I'm not sure what I ordered; but they brought food and drink and I was happy. We were/are amazed with the way people drive in Rome; if you go there, don't drive, just walk to your destinations. That was our chosen means of transportation and we chose well.

During our walk about, we came across a 'wha' statue. A 'wha' is a "Howie Mandel" ism. He'd say "wha" and twist his hand upward - well, that became a 'Hello' between Marty and myself. So finding a statue of this expression was ..... was ..... 'wha'.

We happened upon a lot of great fountains, (hidden) gardens, monuments and (strange and not so strange) Italians. Way too much to describe here - especially the Roman Forum.

St. Peter's Cathedral was HUGE. The Vatican, which contains St. Peter's, is an Ecclesiastical State within Italy - rather interesting, hu(?). It is guarded by the Swiss Guards - they don't talk.

The Pantheon, built between 118 BC and 25 BC, became our 'common' locale and landmark since it was a rock's throw from our hotel.

Our last lunch in Rome, I ordered a birra, grande - I had to have a picture of this mug. I thought I ordered a regular size beer since all the 'standard' beers were about 8 oz. I figured this would be ~12 oz. Boy, I was mistaken - I think it was some kind of English/metric conversion problem.