You Were Expecting Photos?

I'm afraid that technical challenges are going to prevent me from posting any more photos to this blog while I'm in Italy.

In Florence I had access to the internet via my laptop, but my battery run out and the hotel couldn't come up with an adaptor. In Rome I have an adaptor but no internet access with my laptop. So I'm writing this from the hotel's computer in the lobby.

I tried using a public internet store earlier today but ended up getting thrown out. We tried plugging in my computer at one station but couldn't get it to work. So I moved to the computer at the next station and used that for a while. But somehow I hit the sleep button on the keyboard and it went dark. The clerk couldn't understand what happened and when I went to move to a third station he asked me to leave before I ruined another computer!

In spite of all of this I'm loving Italy.

I made it to Florence only a few hours later than planned. I visited the Uffizi Gallery, with the world's most extensive Renaissance art collection. And I also went to the Accademia to see the David statue. Like everyone always says, words alone cannot express the beauty of this sculpture.

In Florence I had a great dinner at a resaurant recommended by Karen Kapler, the White Boar Restaurant near the Ponte Vecchio. Karen is one of those 3D mental Chess Players, and I can only hope that her choice of recommended restaurants isn't a commentary of what she thinks of this blog. Actually I'm not too worried because Karen is pretty direct, as those of us who have had a trip to the chipper know.

By the way, if the punctuation in this entry seems weird it's because I'm using an Italian keyboard and what they have on the keys doesn't always show up the same on the screen. How Italian after all!

I arrived in Rome this morning and am enjoying the hustle and bustle of it. This afternoon I walked around the Coliseum. I'll have some cool photos to share at some point.

Tomorrow it's off to the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel.

My friend, Jim Sivesind aka JeezBob, has caught the bug and has begun his own blog. You can catch it at www.jimsivesind.blogspot.com. He went to the Golden Globes on Sunday night and writes about his encounter with Leonardo di Caprio, amongst others.