Accidental Tourism

In Rome it's easy to see fantastic sights by accident.  Yesterday we took a walk around the neighborhood and without even trying we saw :

• The Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore (where Mark got inspiration for his next book)

• The Pantheon
• Palazzo del Quirinale (Where "Il Presidente" lives and where we nearly got arrested 2 years ago.)
• The Trevi Fountain
• The Spanish Steps
• Piazza Navona
• Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola. This church has one of the most amazing ceilings I've ever seen. Clearly inspired by Michelangelo's Sistine ceiling, especially the foreshortening. The cupola seen in the center of the picture below is actually just a painting on the flat ceiling. Damn son!

• A very small church with no name that was completely lit by candlelight.  
• Heard a very cool 2 person street band.

There are over 900 churches in Rome so I'm not surprised to stumble across a no-name church.  Sometimes they can be just as interesting as the brand name churches.

We've gone over one day without nearly getting arrested, which will make my parents happy. After my dad read the last post he observed that we apparently had used up all our bad judgment on the first day.  Off to a good start.

Upon leaving the house, we looked at each other and noticed this:

If we were girls, we'd go home and change.  Ain't nobody got time for that.

This morning we visited 3 language schools to decide which we wanted.  The school we attended 2 years ago has moved farther away.  I found that there's a school about 50 meters down the street. That seemed like a good option. The second is a 6 minute walk. Another good option.  Lastly, we went back to the school from 2 years ago.  We were greeted with smiles and the staff all commented on how much weight Mark has lost.  They all remembered us and everything about it.  One of the staff is a rock climber.  So guess which school we're going to?  Yep, the one that is nearly a 30 minute walk every day.  "You want to go where people know, your troubles are all the same. You want to go where everybody knows your name.  Norm!"