Act IV, Scene I: Richard is listening to Clare's monologue

Our final day has arrived. I'm not sure if we had breakfast at the hotel that morning, but we had greater things in mind: Visitng the Vatican. Remember, you can't spell Vatican, without spelling 'I can'. We took a bus there of course, but it required us changing busses at one point. As it was hard telling where exactly a certain bus stops, we also had to walk quite a bit. Had we known that nuns can get on an express bus even outside of the express stops we could have saved that walking, but oh well. As a matter of fact we waited for like the third bus, as the others were way too crowded.
Okay, so first of all, we check out St. Peter's square, which is more round than anything, but decide to go inside after visitng the Vatican. Good choice. We ask for the way, and start walking along the walls of the Vatican. They were pretty high. On the way there we get a flyer from a restaurant, where we will later eat lunch. Sorry for spoiling that bit of excitement for you. We also see people trying to sell handbags and sunglasses. All designer merchandise, even though I kinda suspected that stuff to be counterfeit. Just a guess, though. Later said vendors would quickly gather their stuff and start running at the sight of carabineri. Hm. The line to get into the Vatican museums was pretty long, but could have been worse.
When entering, our troubles began. Not that anyone said anything, but they did have signs telling women to cover their shoulders and legs. And when we got in, everybody started breaking ut their scarves and stuff. We didn't bring along anything Christina could use. But no one said anything, so we kinda thought it might be okay. It wasn't like she was dressed revealingly. Anyway, as we were entering the tour of the museums, which includes the Sistine Chapel, Christina felt weird about it, and decided to buy a t-shirt at the gift shop. The lady in there was something else, but I don't wanna bore you. Let me just say that two customers in the store at the same time, were too much for her to handle. Anyway, now Christina felt more comfortable and we were ready to enjoy the beautiful art in there. And it really is great. So much to see, and we somehow missed the Raphael room altogether. Is that how you spell his name? I'm not looking it up. Well, I did anyway, and it's correct. Raffaello would have been okay too, but that's the name of a kind of candy over here, so I'm sticking with the first spelling. And off we went into the Pope's crib.
I just noticed that I started writing this post over a week ago. Sorry for the delay.

Act III, Scene 3: Banquet of the paper towels

E:
We get off the bus close to where we wanted to go, some municipal building I think, which coincidentally took us by the Trevi fountain again. I don't know if I made that decision right there, but I thought it would probably be cool to check it out at night. Christina didn't exactly hate the idea, so we made a plan to go there after dinner that night. As a souvenir for us and my parents, I have been wanting to get some Italian wine, and we came across the right place for it. It was a little store called 'Il tino di vino', and they had plenty of that good stuff. A real friendly and young guy helped us pick the right ones. Of course we ended up with more than we had originally intended, but so far, it has been worth it. Well, we only had one bottle of white wine so far, but I really enjoyed it. We have a bottle of red and a bottle of this really sweet kind left, that is served with pastry, according to the kid. They were some of the most expensive wines I bought, and we were buying the cheapest they had it seemed. They had some bottles on their shelves for 50-70 Euros.
After that, we walked around a little more, and ended up at the Via Nazionale again, where we took a bus home. Home as in our hotel. Of course we had ice-cream in the meantime. If I remember correctly, we stopped at a supermarket close to our hotel to buy some water for the next day. Then we chilled a little in our room.

What do you think happened next?

Y - Christina and Christoph go out for dinner at night.

A - We are too kaputt to do much, but start searching for Caesar's gold.

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R:
I see those meanies running away, into a crowd, but we're right on their heels! Good thing we built up our energy reserves with all that ice-cream! I try to keep quiet so they won't notice us, but do not succeed! We dart down a little road, that leads to this weird bent in the road, where the bus goes by that we have used before! I lose sight for a moment, but then spy the villains hiding in the shade! They cannot escape us now! We each pin one of them to the floor and try to decide what we should do next! They both need a new haircut we decide! Luckily I had my swiss army knife, that's as sharp as a tiger's tooth, and start making fancy designs! Christina then uses magic marker to equip them with mustaches! Of course they are close to tears now, begging for mercy, so we let them go! In that exact moment, the taxi we rode in earlier stops and the driver waves us in hectically! He is being followed by a broker and a pancake cook on motorscooters, but couldn't leave us standing there! He said after we got out of his car, he had a revelation, an epiphany of sorts, and decided to change his life, which was long overdue! I asked him why he was being chased by those two, and he said it was part of his new job! At the hotel we had to jump out of the moving car into a pile of towels the maid had conveniently placed there after a phonecall from our taxi driver, and went to our room to chill a little.

What do you think happened next?

Y - Christina and Christoph go out for dinner at night.

A - We are too kaputt to do much, but start searching for Caesar's gold.

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Y:
This was going to be our last night in Rome, and we came by a nice restaurant one of the other nights, and thought we should try it. So we did. Succesfully took a bus there and enjoyed our meal. Then we took another bus to see the Trevi fountain at night, where we were approached by obnoxious rose vendors, but could still enjoy it. It was just as crowded as it had been during the day. We didn't stay too long, and took a bus straight back to our hotel. It turned out to be the last bus of that line, but there would have been night lines as well. Once again, we were dead tired, our feet were hurting, and we had spent a great day in Rome.

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A:
Who needs food anyway? After learning that Caesar's pirate treasure is assumed to be buried near the Colosseum, we decide it's worth a try. Of course we are not the only ones that thought that, but we were the only tourists this time. Much to the scorn of the Romans, who of course think the treasure is theirs, due to heritage. I wasn't up for arguing, and neither was Christina, so we just called it a night. Right when we were getting ready to leave, a beautiful swan rose from the ground, and the moonlight was shining through his wing, causing an anomality of his feathers to bundle the light on a stone in front of the colosseum. I was the only one to see it and knew right then that the swan had marked the spot of Caesar's gold for me. Thanks to the money invested in the Trevi fountain, I knew I would be back.

Act III, Scene 2: The spoonmakers are approaching

O:
Right next ot the Vittorio Emmanuele monument is the Campidoglio, which hosts several municipal museums, none of which we would visit. We just took a little rest, looked at the many sculptures along the roof of the buildings there and on the little square itself, and walked on in between the buildings towards the river Tiber (or Tevere in Italian I think). There is a little island on that river, where we bought some lunch and ice-cream and walked along the riverbank to see an old bridge, which is completely gone except for the middle part that rests on said island. Right next to that are two Roman temples, which we viewed from a shady sitting position under a tree and in the grass. We rested a lot that day.
When we sat down on the grass, there was a group of American girls there who were somewhat in the process of leaving. Now this is nothing special in itself of course, as we saw many Americans everywhere we went, and people from other countries as well. But this group was deemed so extraordinary by an Asian tourist, that he took several photos of them. And he wasn't really hiding it either. That really was the funniest thing. The girls had some large tattoos and seemed to have shopped at Hot Topic. Okay, I was being stupid there, but they did everything they could to have their clothes reflect what peer group they identify themselves with. And it did get me thinking about peole who try to be different from everybody else, and how a lot of them end up blending in again, just with a group that is not the perceived mainstream. I am not excluding myself rom this.
I'll post about that some other time.

What do you think happened next?

N - Christina and Christoph walk by the Circus Maximus to find a bus stop.

B - We get knocked out and wake up near the Trevi fountain.

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E:
We start digging a tunnel with plastic ice-cream spoons, but get turned around and come back up at the Vesta's temple instead of the pyramid. Some dude is starting a big cry-fest about the damage we did to the grass. We tell him to chill, offering a drink of our fine water. He seems to agree to having it poured on him, so I comply with his request.

What do you think happened next?

N - Christina and Christoph walk by the Circus Maximus to find a bus stop.

B - We get knocked out and wake up near the Trevi fountain.

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N:
Our plan was to walk by the Circus Maximus, and catch a bus to the pyramid that was leaving right by it. Here the bus system messed with us a second time. For some reason our desired bus was not at that stop. No problem though, as there was another one that would take us there as well. A friendly Italian girl even offered help, as she acknowledged the busses to be "very complicated", but I thought I had it figured out. After seeing every bus go by but ours, we just headed towards the nearby subway station, which would take us there as well. I did not see that station at first. While walking there, we also noticed that the bus we wanted to get on actually left from the road crossing the one we had waited on. Thanks, Rome.
The pyramid wasn't very exciting, and it took as a whole minute to look at it. No going in or around it either. Also, the place before the train stop was a little sketchy, so we headed back. There were still a few things to check out near the Trevi fountain, so after finding a good bus, we somehow managed to end up there as well.

What do you think happened next?

E - Christina and Christoph buy some wine at a little store and walk around aimlessly.

R - We begin our hunt for the villains.

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B:
What the heck? We wake up near the Trevi fountain, even though I don't remember any received punches. Must have been some kind of nerve gas or something. I look at my hands and notice they are real sticky, and so are Christina's. They also smell sweet and fruity. Somebody gave us ice-cream and it ran all over our hands cause we didn't get no napkins. There! I see somebody running away.

What do you think happened next?

E - Christina and Christoph buy some wine at a little store and walk around aimlessly.

R - We begin our hunt for the villains.

Act III, Scene 1: The Season of the Witch

Today, a Monday, we got up a little earlier than the day before, and there was still plenty of stuff at breakfast. We didn't leave a whole lot earlier from the hotel though. We didn't know this yet, but today would be the day the Roman busses would mess with us. We were wanting to use a different line than the day before to leave from the hotel, one which we had used to go to the hotel before. I assumed it would be on the other side of the church, just like the other stop. Well I thought wrong. There was no number 71 bus stop to be found going the other way.

What do you think happened next?

M - Christina and Christoph walk to a main road with plenty of busses to choose from.

Z - Christina and Christoph have had enough for the young day and come up with an alternate plan.

Remember your letter to form a word with more letters appearing in this act.

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M:
So we just ended up walking to the main road, where we thought we'd get on a different bus after doing some shopping for music and other nonsense. This is where I came into possession of aforementioned Red Garland CD, while Christina bought Charles Mingus behind my back. What an evil genius. Man, I'm having a hard time remembering what we did and in what order. Luckily I have pictures to help me along. So, we ended up walking all the way down this big road, Via Nazionale I believe, to end up at the monument for Vittorio Emmanuele II.
It's a big national memorial monument and guarded by policemen not afraid to use their whistles when you try to sit down on the steps. On the way there, there were more Roman columns that used to be a temple or assembly hall of some kind. Even though it was exhausting, we walked all the way up to the highest level of the monument, where we enjoyed cool shade and a nice view. It was well worth it.

What do you think happened happened next?

O - Christina and Christoph look at sculptures with penises anbd other old buildings.

E - We dig a tunnel and end up at the pyramid in Rome.

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Z:
Disillusioned with the public transportation that the city of Rome had set up, we join the beggars in front of the church. As a result of the many miracles being performed in Rome each day, we both know Italian for five consecutive minutes, and are able to collect some money, talk to an unemployed yet sane cab driver and convince him to give us a ride in his modified taxi that is also a helicopter. It has no flying capabilities and we begin to think that he was just trying to get us to ride with him. We did enjoy the candy dispenser his taxi. Turns out he is the long-lost son of his neighbors great-aunt, whose ancestors unsuccesfully reinvented pasta in 1723. But the world just wasn't ready for pasta with pants.

What do you think happened happened next?

O - Christina and Christoph look at sculptures with penises and other old buildings.

E - We dig a tunnel and end up at the pyramid in Rome.

Remember to remember your letters.

The overture that comes in between: In-between-erture

Nobody has probably noticed this, but we are only a few visitors away from 2000 visits. That went way quicker than reaching 1000. It's like making a million Euros (or Dollars or whatever you like). The first million is the hardest. So make sure to check if you are lucky number 2000 and win, win, win. As with 1000, it will be ice-cream on our next personal encounter. Or I can send candy in the mail, but that will have to wait until fall when it cools down some. And you would have to be willing to submit your address to me. You'd have to be insane!
Also, Ginger's brother Wyatt has silently given us the honor of appearing in his list of linked blogs. And that even though I was being annoying in the comments to a post he wrote about a smoking ban. So of course I will add him to our little people's list as well. Yep, it has come to this. A link being posted to our blog is considered exciting news.

Another moment of rest.

The Linton Daily Citizen has got to be the best newspaper ever. You get all the gossip and the most important world events on their website while learning about which highschool softball team lost again. But that's the stuff I don't usually read. Because the Citizen knows how to do one thing better than anybody else: write news stories that ain't even news at all. And they're not trying to hide it either. Some of those headlines are way better than anything The Onion could ever come up with. And if they tried on a rainy Sunday afternoon with three pieces of pie for everyone. Which supports my view that nothing is more ficticious than reality.
So here is the beginning of their latest gem, which immediately made me laugh at the irony of it all:

Bats are part of Greene County's natural environment
By Andrea McCann, staff writer

A small brown bat casually napping upside down next to the Linton Police Department back door Tuesday hardly aroused any interest in people working in the building.

The bats are a common sight, according to LPD dispatcher Vicki Gamble, who unexpectedly found one in the bathroom last year.

Now don't get me wrong, I am in no way trying to disrespect the Linton Daily Citizen. I really respect their work. I mean, where else do people still have the chance to write and read about such things? Cause you do actually learn stuff about bats you might not have known before. But you gotta be able to laugh at it, too. So here's my salute to news that "hardly arouse any interest".

Act II, Scene 3: The flowerkeepers of East St. Louis

Musicians were playing in the alley. It was right in the middle of the biggest attractions, so we didn't expect the best and cheapest. Not the greatest, but still good. All that was quite a hike and we were ready for some food, so we stopped at a little restaurant on the way, where I had some spaghetti with pesto and Christina a pizza. As it grows in the wilderness. I especially liked that some parts were beautifully sculpted, namely the seahorses and the dudes, while others seemed to be almost left untouched and looked just like wild rock. And let me tell you, even though it was crowded with people, it's quite an amazing thing, that ole fountain.
But we found the Spanish Stairs no problem, walked up, enjoyed the view, rested a little, refreshed with the water from the fountain and were off to the Trevi Fountain. Oh, well, we managed to finally head towards our destination, even though there was some tension now. The problem was that it wasn't just across the road, but on the other side of a church with one-ways on both sides. I kinda messed that up. But somehow we managed to walk right past it, around in a circle and back to where we had already been before finally seeing it. I figured that the bus stop would be right across from where we got off the night before, as it was the same line. So, all we needed to do was walk to the bus stop and ride it to where we wanted to go: The Spanish Stairs.
It was understood. Well, not that day of course. You always had to leave your key at the reception when you left. Thanks to my lack of motivation we left the hotel at like 10.30 or so, leaving our key with the maid who was already on our floor. Then it was time for me to hop in the shower, look on the map to see where we would go that day, figure out which bus would take us there and get going. But under the given circumstances it could not be avoided. Now anybody who knows me a little better is aware that I don't usually ever eat that stuff, because of my aversion to certain red foods. The cheese wasn't great either, so I had to fall back on marmelade. The cereal was hard to get out the containers, as it all stuck together in a big lump. What do you do? All sugar, no fruit. The orange "juice" was horrible. As we were there kinda late, the choices had become a little less already, but the bread was okay. The breakfast wasn't bad, wasn't great either though. I would take my shower afterwards. Anyway, Christina had showered the night before, while I still had to wash myself, but we managed to get to the breakfast room on time. Usually having breakfast too, but it was too early. I just prefer to be up for like half an hour or so before driving. Christina had the advantage of having slept in the car while I was driving to the airport and getting up a little later. We woke up at around 9 I think, and I was still dead tired.

Act II, Scene 2: Why I don't like green cars

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