It's hot in Italy

Hello, all. We made it! This is not going to be a long post, because I am tired and also this keyboard has a backspace key that sticks and deletes everything I just wrote. Damn it! There it goes again.

It is very hot here. That is kind of an understatement, actually. It is so hot that although I have had about four gallons of water today, I have not had to find a bathroom at all. Sorry if that is too much detail for you....The air is so heavy that I feel like I am inside a warm cloud.

This morning we saw the Borghese Gallery, which is on the former estate of the Pope's nephew. Unfortunately, I do not remember which Pope, but you can look it up if you want to know. He owned and commissioned many beautiful pieces, including some by the sculptor Bernini. No cameras allowed, of course, so no photos of them unless I sprung for a 40 Euro souvenir book, but Google Bernini if you are curious.

We had a delicious lunch at a restaurant called La Bruschetta (literally "the burned toast"), at the recommendation of our hotel owner who is an American woman of about my age, and who apparently knows good places to eat wherever we might be going. She hasn't missed yet. We had mixed vegetables, which turned out to be marinated zucchini, eggplant, green beans, spinach, red peppers, small roasted potatoes, onions, and (inexplicably because it contained no vegetables) a piece of delicious quiche. Then we had an order of breaded stuffed olives (YUM), and a plate of gnocchi with tomato-basil sauce. It was all delicious. Oh, and we finished with a piece of custardy lemon cake with almonds. The three of us just shared one order of each of these things, which was plenty.

This afternoon we had the longest walk known to man, trying to locate the Pantheon. My father, who is usually very good with maps and directions, must have been suffering from heat stroke or jet lag or something, because he led us on a labyrinthian tour of local piazzas, taxi stands, and careening scooters down back streets. When we finally reached the Pantheon, everyone was too tired, hot, and crabby to enjoy it. (Had someone listened to me when I said to turn left out of the bus stop instead of right, we might have avoided such a hike, but we did stumble upon a very nice square with a Bernini fountain along the way, so it was not all bad.)

But not to worry! We were quickly revived by some delicious gelato: I had almond sorbet and wild cherry sorbet, and wow were they good. My mom especially loves the gelato. She is anxious to have it for breakfast, since we have heard somewhere that locals do that.

This was followed by another forced march through the heat. I am the only member of our party not suffering from blisters on my feet. But at last, we got back on our sightseeing bus and got off at the Colosseum, which was particularly exciting for me because I missed it the last time I was in Italy. For some reason, it was unexplainedly closed the day my sister and I tried to visit it. A very impressive structure (which the audiotour on our bus went to the trouble to stress was never used for martyring Christians or sacrificing people, contrary to popular legend--but they would hardly admit it, now, would they?), and we were there at the perfect time to get photographs of the crumbling stone in the pink-orange late afternoon light.

And now, I believe it is bed time. The jet lag yesterday was torture, but my body has adjusted quickly. So far....And also, there are some obnoxious Americans yelling in this Internet cafe. Why is it that Americans seem to think that speaking LOUDER IN ENGLISH is going to make someone who doesn't speak English miraculously understand them?

Thanks to everyone who sent messages. I will try to write back soon! Ciao!