When in Rome...

The experience of exploring Rome just gets better with each passing day. I've gotten to know the city well enough now that I generally know where landmarks like the Vatican, the Pantheon, and the Colosseum are relative to us at any given time.

Walking around knowing you're half an hour's walk away from the Roman Colosseum is a badass feeling. I've walked by it three or four times now, and I'm blown away by actually seeing it in persion every time. Tomorrow we're actually going to go inside.

Today we spent the morning visiting the Holy See, home of the Pontifex Maximus. From Rose's theologian friend Claudia I learned that Pontifex actually means "bridge builder," so the Pope, in addition to owning the world's awesomest hat, also bears the title of "greatest builder of bridges." I assume this is a reference to the fact that the Pope's job is to bridge the space between man and God, but it could be that there's some engineering training involved in the poping process.

There are some places in the world that you absolutely have to go but are too overwhelming to actually absorb. The Louvre was one, and St. Peter's Cathedral is another. It's the largest cathedral in the world, and ever nook holds a Bernini or a Michelangelo or a Raphael with a story that books could be written about. According to Rose's travel book the church has 45 altars. So by the time you've properly absorbed half a percent of what there is to see, your brain is full and it's time to move on. Fortunately, where you move on to is the roof of the cathedral, which offers a magnificent view of the city and a remarkably affordable cup of coffee (70 cents a cup for good espresso!)

After this trip to the Vatican (our second, which I have taken to calling Vatican II), we walked to the St. Angelus Castle (sorry if I'm mangling the English of some of these places; my travel guides are all in German). The castle itself wasn't particularly exciting, but I was very amused by the centuries old pathway running along the top of a brick wall that directly connects the fortress to the Vatican - in ancient times the Pope could use this path to escape were the Holy See to come under attack.

The castle was followed by a leisurly walk across the city and a second visit to the restaurant we visited Thursday, where the pizzas are wonderful and cost only €4 apiece.

On our way home, we bought alcohol. Not wine, whiskey, or vodka - 95% pure ethanol. In Germany, you can only get this stuff at a drug store, and at great price. Here it's available in the supermarket. It doesn't even have a warning label, though I think you'd actually have a pretty hard time killing yourself by drinking pure ethanol. I tried half a shot of 140 proof vodka on a lark once in Japan that was so painful to swallow that I can't imagine anyone downing something stronger. The purpose of buying this stuff, in any case, is not to drink as it is, but to use in creating liqueur. The night after we got here, Claudia mixed up a batch of home-made lemon liqueur, which consists of half pure alcohol in which lemon peels have sat overnight and half water saturated with sugar, and it tastes fantastic. I've decided to get a bottle of ethanol for myself and try to make mandarine, lemon-lime, and peppermint liqueurs when I get home.

Sorry for the picture-less posts - I will post my photos to Flickr when I get back to Düsseldorf!