Tales of a Wanderer

Buon giorno from L'Italia!

I just saw 5 lightning strikes in Rome this evening!! A train strike is happening in Italy that almost prevented me from coming to Rome.
I forgot to mention in my last blog that I met a great guy in Ancona named Simone...he was here on business from Milan (clinical research). I was asking him about something and we ended up hanging out the rest of the night and going to a hole in the wall Italian restaurant. He taught me a bunch of Italian words, helped me to interact with the waitress and ordered a great bottle of red wine on his company card! We talked women, politics and life. Vive L'Italia!

At some point Im going to have to slow down just a bit. I am about 3 days ahead of schedule, but my feet are starting to hurt a lot from all of the walking. Rome is my favorite city so far - it is so beautiful and so amazing, and I finally can get around without a map. I took a tour of the Circus Maximus, Colosseum, Palatine Hill, Forum, Pantheon, St Peters and the Vatican Museum. I feel like I can walk around here safely and confidently...Im starting to get the hang of this travelling thing...I find the Italians a lot friendlier than the Greeks. I dont get cold stares or looks like Im invisble.

I cant stay here much longer because the hostel I stayed at the first night blew a hole in my budget the size of the iceberg in the Titanic. This ship aint sinking though! After 3 hours of wandering around Rome from 6pm to 9pm, talking to several Italians and covering a third of the city, I found the hostel I was looking for. It didnt help that it started raining when I was walking around. Iàm really starting to realize how dependent we are upon other people for information and hospitality, and it puts a different perspective on tourists I see back in the Bay Area.

I have met a lot of friends here, I ate with Samuel from Ghana in the Naples McDonalds (yes I broke down and finally had McDonalds!) It costs six Euro for a Bic Mac meal which is about $9 American = Big Whack.
I met a couple from Seattle, Bill and Janice who bought me pizza in Naples, Matt and Sue from Pennsylvannia who I met at Trevi Fountain here in Rome, Tim and Kelly from South Carolina, I met John and Shelly from Boston today and helped them find their way to the Metro, talked to Sean from Ventura, Mike and Jill from Toronto and many others.

The world is truly becoming globalized. There is an ethnically Chinese Australian named Eugene working in my hostel, musicians from the Andes are playing on the main street in Rome to the tune of Gladiator music, Indians and Pakistanis selling street wares from umbrellas to dancing mickey and minnie trinkets, Brasilians, Mexicans, French, Swedish, Japanese, theyre all here... Almost everyone speaks English...and almost everyone dislikes America.

In a way, its all quite overwhelming...so much going on, so much to see, so much to do. I sat on the Spanish Steps for a long time last night just people watching resting my sore feet.

When I left off from Assisi, I was headed down to Napoli, to the land of Mt Vesuvius, Pompei and Herculeneum. My base for two days was in Sorrento, the retreat of many Roman emperors and senators starting with Caesar Augustus.
I saw the ruins of Herculanum, left from the eruption of Vesuvius in 70AD and saw the frescoes and sculptures saved from Vesuvius in the Naples National Museum.

Im having my laundry professionally done today for the first time after sink washing for a while. Washing your laundry in the sink only takes about 50% of the smell and grime out of your clothes.

Im starting to miss home at points now. I realize how important community is, and how being alone can remind you of your great need before God and others. I am learning a lot about the world, the problems we face and Im trying to figure out more solutions. Robert (my Polish friend I met in Assisi) told me he thinks industry is one of the biggest threats to the world in our time. But he said "we have hope because we have God" and showed me his cross.