The Days Before the Conference

Our official Day One was an unplanned walkabout day, where the four of us just went strolling around our neighborhood. Our phones were of little use at this moment, as we needed wifi for them to work, but for some reason the maps seemed to be able to keep track of our whereabouts (um...thanks GPS?).

It was hot. Hot and muggy. As a quick aside: it was hot the entire goddamned time, hitting at least 90 everyday of the seventeen days we were over there, in all places and phases of the trip.

Anyway, on that first sweaty day we made it all the way to the Colosseum, which was, naturally, packed with tourists. Our place was maybe a fifteen minute walk from the site, but in our roundabout way we spent the better part of an afternoon walking there.

Proof, in the realistic event he doesn't remember

I love, and sorely miss, subways

Afterwards I got groceries and made dinner, using the sleek alley to get over to the grocers, Carre4:

The alley

The next day was Cass's birthday, and again we went out walking, but without Lola this time.

I already showed some of the best pictures, but here are some more, one from the Spanish Steps, three-quarters of the ways up:

And from one of the gates of the Villa Burghesia, a former front-yard(?) of an enormously wealthy person that's now a park:

This was a Monday, and my conference started the next day, so this was really my last day getting to do touristy things with the fam. It was nice, and it was hot, but work was looming.