So today is the beginning of college football season back home. I do miss that a bit, but hopefully Friday night around 9:30 we'll be watching the ND kickoff at an Irish pub around town. That should be a good time.

As for, you know, the time of my life I am having here 5500 miles away from tonight's games, today was a more relaxed day. Up early (early being 9:00, of course) to go to a bus tour of Rome. We were up on the double-decker thing, and I got a bunch of pictures, but none were especially great. My highlights of the day were going to the Piazza di Spagna with the famous Spanish Steps. We went there for a very brief period the first time I visited, and it was cool to see them again (I'm sure I will be back. Often). There also was the worlds nicest McDonald's a block away. I did not see a Royale with cheese (think Pulp Fiction), which reinforced my stand against eating McDonalds (over 5 years now!). I keep finding reasons to never eat that stuff again.

Also, it was my first time in the Piazza del Popolo. The obilisk there is really old (dates back to Ramses II), and that is sweet because I think Egyptian obelisks are pretty awesome.

The rest of the day was fairly low key. Despite my lack of sleep I haven't gotten too tired. I also have not been eating much, surprisingly. Instead of McDonalds I had like 1/4 of somebody else's piece of pizza they got outside the Metro (it was a large piece, mind you, because the person at the store kept ripping off the Ugly Americans by giving them way bigger pieces than they wanted. In America, this would be great, but here the cost of the slice depends on the weight of the slice. There were some 8 euro "pieces" of pizza). And for dinner I had gelato at Old Bridge. That's it. I think the heat is killing my appetite, and my need for sleep too. It is supposed to cool a bit (5 degrees. Fahrenheit, sadly) the next few days, so I have that to look forward to.

The next few days are wide open too. Should be good.