italians invented music. and shoes.

shop display. totally my favorite so far.

today we're off to the villa borghese and the national museum of MODERN art. MODERN!!! i refuse to have anything to do with the renaissance today. but tomorrow we're doing the vatican/sistine chapel....whichwillprobablymakemecryagain, ahem.

melissa's neighborhood, san lorenzo, used to be a low-income blue collar crazy left-wing paradise...and is therefore revoltingly trendy today. every night there's a giant block party, and the streets literally don't quiet down until dawn. it reminds me of the east village, or brooklyn. 

also, the light in rome is something i've never seen before. everything radiates either golden or pink...i tired to capture it with every combination of settings on my camera, but i just couldn't. maybe it's light reflecting off all the marble combined with all the rusty changing leaves on the trees...but it's a photographer's haven. not that i'm a photographer by any means. but if i were. ahem. anyway.

oh, and italians like shiny things. my eurotrash shoes fit in quite nicely, though my red hair and fair skin do not. everyone immediately speaks to me in english, and then they're surprised to hear my american accent, saying "I thought you were irish! or british!" i'll take that as a compliment. cheers, mate.