secrets of the creative dark

Justin and I hit the streets the night before our free day, definitely tired and full of wine, to see how much walking we could handle and what the fountains were like at night. Rome has easily the most interesting nightlife, with actual young people outside at night, wandering around and being lovers, drunks, friends, and alive. It's fairly safe as well, which was a nice change from the bizarrely shady Duomo area in Florence. There's lots of fountains in Rome, and they're lit from under the water, creating a wonderfully active light that gives a new view on the famous Berninis. We hit the Pantheon, which was a short walk, and Piazza Nuvona, also short. The Four Rivers in the center of Nuvona is really a blast to photograph, every angle has something new. We headed back the other direction to hit Trevy Fountain, which is enormous and very impressive but not as photogenic. I didn't get a chance to throw any coins in, but I'm fairly certain that I'll return anyway. Lots of lovers all over the fountains at night, we concluded that when we return, we're bringing girls.




Justin was barely keeping his eyes open so we skipped the Forum that night and retired. Slept till 11:00 the next day. It was exsquisite, as sleeping that late often is.

For our free day we needed to spend a bunch of euros, so Nick and I did some shopping near the Spanish Steps, then we retired to the roof to read in the setting sunlight.


The crowds at the bottom of the steps were shouting for Madonna, who is playing tomorrow night at the Colloseo. Rumor was that she was staying nearby.

Hunger set in, and we set out to the Pantheon to have a fancy dinner right next to it. We found fancy alright, and 180 euros later had enjoyed some very fine dining indeed. Watching the Pantheon as the sun set, we enjoyed buttery-soft fillet, delicious oysters and sparkling wine, and a wicked good 4-cheese pizza. Plus a very entertaining waiter that made it very easy to forget how much you had spend, but hell, why go if you can't live well?


24 euro worth of oysters and sparkling wine. Mmmmm.

Sadly, our early flight today meant a 5:00 call, and we still had to pack and trek down to the Colloseo in the dark for pictures. We ran ourselves right down to empty, but got it done and the results were so worth it. I think we got 3 hours of sleep.


Notice the marble curbs.

We rode a nice bus to Fiumicino, and have wandered around in a daze since. This flight to Heathrow is fine, and short, but there's a lot more flying to do today. I'm hoping to find some good tea and scones at Heathrow and get some sleep.

How appropriate that I am now in "The Crossing of the Return Threshold" in Hero of a Thousand Faces.