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The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
Robert A. Caro

Lousy Carter

Only God could love Star Trek: Voyager.
Stephen Colbert

We awake and enjoy the hotel's complimentary breakfast of rolls. The orange juice is made from blood oranges, which makes the juice red. After, we head off for the Colosseum, which is a short walk from the hotel. It's as big as a baseball stadium back home. It's still early and it's not open yet, so we wander around outside. We notice there are many stray cats hanging around.

Cats at the Colosseum

Once it opens, we pay for the English guided tour that begins a half hour later. We wander around until then and soak up the atmosphere. The tour is quite interesting and we learn a few new things. Once finished, we buy a few souvenirs and Patty has her picture taken with an ancient Roman soldier.

We sit down for a while just outside the Colosseum and make friends with one of the local cats. She is a friendly Calico that eventually winds up sleeping in Patty's lap. We end up sitting there far longer than planned. Many people, locals and tourists alike seem surprised at the cat.

As we're sitting there, we see three small women assaulting a man. At first, we thought it was a friendly family squabble, but the man kept shoving them out of the way. One of the women was carrying a piece of cardboard and holding it in front of the man, while all three babbled at him. Was he some sort of soccer star or something and they were trying to get his autograph? They eventually gave up and walked away.

Finally, we said caio to our little cat friend and walked around the outskirts of the Forum, looking for a way to get in. After we had walked the entire length, we figured out that the entrance was back near the Colosseum. We had seen some great sights, so it wasn't too bad. We headed back and stopped to see our cat again. She immediately hopped back on Patty's lap. I went and got a large doughnut shaped thing of sugar bread that all three of us enjoyed. We were still feeling the effects of jet lag, so we returned to the hotel for a nap. Later, we just wandered around near the hotel, with no particular goal in mind.