Hello everybody.  Sorry so late here.  It has been very difficult to find a computer i can use.  This keyboard is totally different from the ones back home.  I cannot find the apostrophe so bear with me here.  Well, we arrived safely with minimal problems.  The hotel is absolutely beautiful.  It is the Hotel Cavaliere in Rome  pretty opulent and luxurious.  Yesterday was our first full day and we spent most of it being good Catholics, touring around Vatican City.  Saw St. Peters, Vatican Museum, an archeological tour underneath St. Peters where the ancient Roman cemetary was, as well as St. Peters tomb and bones.  We also toured the Sistine Chapel in which Michaelangelo painted the entire ceiling.  It is hard to describe how magnificent everything is.  I have taken lots of pictures though.

Today, we spent the morning touring the Coliseum, the Forum, Circus Maximus, and the Pallantine Hills.  Talk about being part of ancient history.  We just finished lunch in McDonalds (how adventurous of us) and am now in an internet cafe with Alexandra. 

I do not think we have ever experienced such heat and humidity before.  It makes the touring a bit difficult, to say the least.  Today it is about 100 degress.  Yesterday was 97.  We are doing our best to be good troopers. 

The catastrophe of the trip so far was my recent fall down a stone set of steps at the Forum leading to the toilet.  I had camera (the big one) with flash attached in hand and managed to hold it upright as I tumbled down the steps.  Camera comes first, not me.  Steve Touchette, where are you when I need you.? I reopened my recent elbow wound and blood was streaming everywhere.  I claim once again the There Will Be Blood award, even though technically I was not running.  Speaking of which, I have yet to do…….  I sprang up, dignity somewhat intact, and really did not feel bad, although the leg is starting to hurt.

Alexandra says hello to her peeps.  Hi Emily, Richard, Katie, and Alicia.  She says she is dying.  Has never walked so much in her life.  The highlight of the trip so far is getting back to the hotel to the cool air conditioned room with the big comfy bed. 

Tomorrow, we leave for Tuscanny.  I believe they have a computer at the B and B, so I will report from there.  We are all anticipating a less hectic pace.  Rome has really wiped us out.  It is very beautiful though.

Caio..