Date: Fri, 23 Jul 1999 19:53:18 +0200
Subject: "The Periodic Adventures and the Adventurous Periodical of Marleigh," 
 Issue 20

Hi All,

For some reason, I'm really unmotivated to write.  Which is weird, since
I have both time and cool stuff to talk about.  Odd.

Anyway, I went to Rome last weekend.  That was really cool.  Emma and I
were pretty cranky the first night we got in.  It was really hot, hotter
than we expected, and we had just travelled a lot.  Then we decided to
go on this walking tour which started at the Colosseum, which was just
down the street from our hostel.  The tour was by this really funny
American lady, who had married a Roman 6 years ago and had been living
in Rome ever since.  It was a good thing to do for an orientation, it
turned out we were within walking distance of a lot of major ruins.  We
also went to the Trevi Fountain that night.  The deal with the Trevi
Fountain is that you're supposed to sit with your back to the fountain
and thow coins in with your right hand over your left shoulder.  One
coin means a quick return to Rome.  Two is a quick return to Rome and
fall in love there.  Three is a quick return to Rome, fall in love, and
marry a Roman.  It was unclear to me whether you had marry the guy you
fell in love with, or if that was optional.  It also seemed to me that
Rome would start running out of Romans, but the tour guide swore it was
true, using herself as an example.  I decided I was unimpressed with
Roman men and only threw in one.  Emma, who also was not into Roman
guys, threw in two on the theory that she could bring her own man to
fall in love with.

The tours sort of became our trend.  We would take a tour in the
evening, then go back over the route during the next day to see things
more carefully.  Besides the Coloseum and the Trevi Fountain, we saw the
Arch of Constantine, Mussilini's Avenue, the spot where Julius Caesar
was killed, several Roman Forums, the Vatican, St. Peter's Cathedral, as
well as lots of other wierd things.  The wierdest thing I saw was during
our visit to the Cappuccino Monks (no, really, there really are
cappuccino monks!)  Linda, the woman who runs the youth hostel we stayed
at, reccommended it.  I was talking about seeing the catacombs, but she
said this was more interesting and closer.  Emma and I went in there,
expecting to see graves and neat old headstones and stuff.  Instead, I
saw really complecated designs covering the walls and ceilings, all in
dark brown.  It took me a second to reallize they were human vertibrae.
I guess the deal is that these monks take the bones of dead members of
their order and make mosaics and stuff out of them.  The really old
bones are dark brown.  I thought it was really cool, until I found
myself trying to identify the bones they used (there was a really ornate
jawbone and half-pelvis one that took me a while to figure out), then
decided that was enough.  Quite icky.

We also went shopping.  Emma and I both bought really great sexy black
leather jackets.  Sadly, we realized later that the stitching was not so
good in places, but the style is great and the leather's really good
stuff.  I've decided I should shop more while I'm in Europe.  I really
liked Italian clothes.

Anyway, I'm back safe.  Kate comes tonight, and stays until Thursday.
We're going to Switzerland tomorrow to stay with her aunt.  I'm looking
forward to that.

English Word of the Week:
groovy = echt toll, ausgezeichnet

Yeah, well, I haven't been speaking much German lately, being in Italy
and all, so I couldn't think of a good German word.  On the other hand,
Emma and I went to see "Notting Hill" last night.  This teenager and her
parents were sitting next to us.  Emma and I were chatting away in
English.  At one point before the movie, the mother turned to me and
offered me some chocolate, in German.  I said no thanks, also in German,
and she turned back to her family and said "See?  They speak German as
well."  We watched the movie (dubbed into German), and there was this
one character who kept saying "groovy."  Afterwards, the mother leaned
over and asked me what groovy meant.  The daughter totally hid her head
in this 'Mom!  You're embarrassing me!' sort of way.  We explained it to
her.  It was all really funny.

Honor and Glory...
	to mikka, for a surprise puzzle!
	to Jeremy, for drawing a floorplan and taking photos of our new
	   apartment and putting them on line, so I can see them
Dishonor and Notoriety...
	to really hot weather
	to Italians who charge extra to foreigners

Tschuess!

Marleigh