More than halfway done

The Coliseum. You can sort of get an idea of how huge it is by noticing the people standing in the arches.














An arch. I can’t remember the name of it. I’m sure Anna knows.



















This was over near the Forum and the Coliseum. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but it’s beautiful.



















The Arch of Constantine. I have pictures of this straight-on, but I love the sun in this one.














This is the entrance to, I believe, the Roman Forum.



















The Pantheon.














The light coming in through the dome inside.



















One of the paintings inside the Pantheon.














I’m sure that you can all figure out why I took this.














Notice that our pizzas are heart-shaped. That’s because Italian waiters love cute American girls.





Last night, Anna and I went back to our favorite gelato spot and we took Eowyn this time. Just for the record, there’s a strong possibility that I’m in love with Signor Orlando Timberlake who works there. He’s so attractive and so cute! For example, he thinks that “please” means “you’re welcome” in English. Here’s a sample of our conversation last night. Keep in mind that his part of it was in broken English.

Us: Do you take cards here?
Him: No, sorry.
Us: Is there a bancomat nearby? (“Bancomat” is an Italian ATM.)
Him: Si. Go straight, and on the next….. (to a random man) Hey! Come se dice in Inglese “via?!” Random man: “Street.”
Him: Go straight and on the next street, turn right. Not the first one, the one after that.
Us: Okay. Grazie.
Him: Please.

It was so, so cute. So he’s my new Italian boyfriend. AND he was in my dreams last night! Needless to say, I did not want to wake up.

Italian television is hilarious. We’ve watched some interesting things. We watched “Friends” with Italian voices dubbed over. It’s not as funny. We watched part of a National Geographic special about medieval suits of armor with Italian voices dubbed over. It’s actually funnier. There is a channel that shows some movies in English. Sometimes you get lucky and catch something good like “Talladega Nights”, but sometimes you strike out and get some awesomely bad movie like “Flushed Away” or “She’s All That.” We did watch “Mr. Bean.” It was in English, but with German subtitles, but it didn’t really matter. It would have been funny in any language.

Speaking of Mr. Bean, there’s a trumpet player in the orchestra who looks JUST like him. It’s a little unnerving. And he keeps making comments that make the whole orchestra laugh. Maybe he actually IS Mr. Bean. Anna thinks that he’ll make a mess of the whole production because he’s Mr. Bean and he can’t help it.

We’ve been having Sitzprobe rehearsals for the last two days. That’s where we sing through the whole show with the orchestra, but don’t do any staging. So far, so good. We did Act I yesterday. I sang my first aria and, if I do say so myself, I did a good job. One of the orchestra members said something to me afterward. I didn’t understand it all, seeing as it was in Italian, but I caught “brava” on the end of the sentence and said “grazie.” And then today I sang my Act II aria. Also a success, I think. Everyone sounds great. We’re gonna kick his show’s butt.

And tomorrow we start tech rehearsals. Two days of tech rehearsals, then two days of dress rehearsals, then it’s show time! My cast is opening the show on Tuesday. I can’t believe it’s already here. This also means that my time in Rome is winding down, so I have to fit in the last few “must-sees.” We’re doing an Operfest-only tour of the Vatican next week and I have to go back to the Trevi, and I think that will just about do me.

Oh! Also, Italian dogs are hilarious! I don’t think that their owners are as meticulous about grooming as Americans, so all the dogs that I’ve seen have been really, really hairy. It’s so funny. And they just sort of trudge along next to their owners. Man. I love dogs.