Coincidentally, I spent most of those two days at the Vatican. Yesterday, I FINALLY saw the Sistine Chapel. Seems like I woke up every morning last week saying, today I'm going to see the Sistine Chapel. Missed the tour on Wednesday and ran into the Brits. The four of us planned to go on Thursday, but failed to motivate. 
We did the Trevi fountain instead and they left Friday morning. On Friday, I got in the wrong line and ended up doing St. Peter's basilica. I missed the line for the dome until it was too late to go up there, so I'll have to do that next time. On Saturday, I was planning to cut with Chris's tour group (Chris's idea), but the tour was canceled and I didn't find out until I was at the Vatican. Ended up having to stand in line myself. It was worth the hour I had to wait and the crowds I had to manuever through to get there. I spent about half an hour in the chapel itself. Pretty amazing.
That afternoon, I did my walking tour with Peter's friend, Chris. He gave us a brief history of Rome and took us by Circus Maximus, to some temples including the Pantheon, through the old jewish ghetto, by the imperial palace (Palatine hill), past the forum and finally to the Colisseum. It was a great tour, though we didn't go into the Colisseum, so I think I will try to do that on Friday.
Two of the three days I've spent in Rome, I've had lunch at Roscioli's. It's near Peter's office and he eats there almost every day. Both times I've had a slice of mozzarella pizza (€1.50) that the fold in half and wrap for the perfect walk and eat meal. The also have little dishes of pasta in foil trays -- in portions just my size. Peter is always greeted warmly as the Rosciolis and the Kiefers go way back. Even though I've had pizza for my last three meals, I'm looking forward to another slice
It was a little long and I thought it was a bit difficult to follow all the sub-plots, mainly because it was hard to distinguish the many dark-haired bearded men from each other, but I enjoyed it. We had great seats thanks to an article Peter wrote in the NY Times over the weekend that went over well with the festival organizers. Looks like some of the festival events have been canceled due to the accident this morning, but the screenings will still happen. We're planning to go to as many as we can this week.
I have arrived in Rome! Kinda feels like I'm going back further and
further in time. London, Paris and now Rome. It'll be interesting to
end my trip in NY. It's really great to see Peter, another great Peter
in my life. He's busy writing a story about a bridge for the Herald
Tribune. When he's done we're going out for a drink. I was traveling
pretty much all day even though the flight was only an hour and
forty-five minutes. Peter's done writing. We're out.
The guys that run the place are really nice (and they speak English!). It looks like a wine store from the outside. I highly recommend it!
I woke up early this morning! Was out the door by 9:30am. Considering that until this morning I've been dead to the world until past noon everyday, that's quite an accomplishment. Went shopping in the morning, hit the Rodin museum in the afternoon, and met up with Peter at the Eiffel tower for dinner. More pics later...
Cal (16) beat Oregon (11) over the weekend. My friend, Jason, sent me this quote:
"Tedford has turned Cal into a football power -- but it's still Cal. Cosmologist George F. Smoot, who won the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday, was introduced before the game to the cheering student section, which chanted 'Nobel Prize! Nobel Prize!'"
Turns out my first night in Paris was "Nuit Blanche 2006". A night when all the bars and clubs stay open all night. Yay.
Mike and Matt have a really nice place. Unfortunately, there's a bar next door that unloads their kegs at about 8am. Ok if you work. Not so much if you're jetlagged and ti-red. 
