The Coliseum

The next day, while John gets up early and out the door, Oscar and

the first shot in my new blog "bored baby"

I sleep in and plan to meet them in near the Coliseum, because I’m not about to take a stroller into that thing.  Besides, Oscar and I need the extra sleep and then we hit the breakfast bar, and hit the road.   We’re strolling down the Via Cavour toward the main sites when I see a cross road that has a bridge across it at the end and the Coliseum behind it.  

maybe the new blogs should be "baby doesn't like history"

 I’ve never seen it from this view before and since this trip is about doing things differently than I’ve ever done them before, we head for it.  The view of the coliseum from this high vantage point is very nice and I think that I can start a new blog that centers around a baby not caring that he is in front of incredible things that people wait their whole lives to see.  Bored baby.com or something like that because Oscar’s expressions  in every picture are very

 disdainful of everything we’ve seen so far.  Now, granted, he is facing away from the site in question for the picture, but there’s really no change in expression when he is looking at the object.  You will not see many pictures of me in this blog this time, because I’m taking pictures of Oscar and he obviously has the dexterity to break the camera, but not to use it at this time.  Speaking of breaking 

 things, the backpack with the leash attachment broke in Chicago, so that’s out the window in keeping him with me.  So, it’s the stroller or running around in places that aren’t very crowded, which can be hard in some of these cities.  But we finally find a sloping stair way down to the Coliseum and walk around it, darting past all of the vendors selling water, trinkets, whatever you don’t want.  One of the students said that 

they were in a “syndicate” and it made me think that they have to have someone who tells them what to sell when and for how much, because they’re everywhere and when the clouds come up, they have ponchos and umbrellas, when the sun is out they have hats and sunglasses, when it’s a little chilly, they have wraps and scarves.  It’s amazing how fast the switch happens.  We get to the Arch of Constantine where I know that John and Rachel met the students last time and we run around

 on the cobblestones there and watch a parade go by that is a protest for the unions.  They play good music though and Oscar only seems to pay attention when they start playing Pavarotti on the loud speakers singing Nessun Dorma.  He keeps pointing and quits crying for a second.  He’s getting fussy now because it’s time for a nap, but there are so many exciting things to do and see and we finally run into daddy.  Even the good looking girls in the group can’t make him feel better, so we head off to find some lunch like the others are doing.