Colossus and the Grassy Knoll...

Yesterday we got on the metro and checked out the Colosseum and the surrounding ruins of the ancient city.

Though I must say, for a city with such small coffees Rome sure builds large.

When you walk out the Colosseo metro station, the view just hits you like a truck. It's enough to make you want to pull out your camera. Which I did.

My not so impromptu photo shoot almost caused my first run-in with an Italian carabinieri...some sort of armed mall-cop fellow wearing a funny hat. I was standing on the nice, green grassy knoll in front of the Colosseum. Great spot to line up a nice architectural shot...or so I thought.

Eye in the viewfinder, over the din of the crowd and traffic I'm concentrating on framing up the shot. I hear this whistle something like a traffic cop directing vehicles in an intersection. It doesn't really register until Monica starts screaming "get down, get off the grass!!!" and I see this uber-macho Italian fascist in high leather boots coming towards me with a billy club.

Sheesh. A simple "Please stay off the grass sign" would have sufficed. Of course maybe it was there in Italian and I didn't comprenere, but I certainly wasn't sticking around to find out.

So Rome is great. The museums are almost as good as thosein Whitehorse.

The coffees here are definitely too small for the price. And to repeat - -when in Rome, STAY OFF THE GRASSY KNOLL, at least in front of the Colisseum. Apparently, these guys take their lawns verrry seriously.