Our first full day in Rome is drawing to a close and it has been an incredible experience. We got out a little late this morning (I know none of you can believe that I was up at 6 am and Steph wasn't ready to go until about 10)....but we took the subway to the colosseum, it was an easy trip and an unbelievable site. We spent over three hours there, then wandered around and away looking for lunch and being awe struck at how there are soooooo many sites in such a small area.

We had a disappointing lunch and then went to catch the subway back to the hotel for a nap....and then we bumped into the typical Rome pickpocket group....there were five early teen girls who decided they could swipe Steph's stuff from the purse she had around her neck!!  She realized what was happening, yelled, and they jumped on the subway....surprise, Steph followed so I had to....and we caught and pulled off at the next stop two of them that she thought had her phone.......from there I yelled for police and they were crying and jabbering but Steph wasn't letting go....then the smaller one pushed Steph, threw down an empty bag and jumped back on the subway just before the doors closed and left her friend there to face the music!!

Well, we got to the police and she was REALLY squalling and squealing but he was NOT buying her BS....he called ahead and they actually picked up the little girl that got away from Steph and brought her back for Steph to ID!!  They take this stuff serious here it was cops coming and going like a bank heist or something!!

SOMEWHERE in all of this Steph had the girl and gave me her purse to check and we found out they didn't actually GET anything (although they have NO IDEA how close they came to getting a South Alabama girl ass whipping!!)....anyway the two were arrested and it was taking a long time and Steph said we needed to get to the hotel for her medicine (cold medicine!! LOL)....so the cops called some other cops and they gave us a ride!!  The pic I posted is actually Steph getting out of the cop car at our hotel and the cop came in with us to do his report that Steph had to sign.

After all that excitement we did actually get a little nap and then went down the street a couple of blocks for dinner....the appetizer was the grilled octopus and taters I posted a pic of....and our entree' was lasagna for Steph and Shrimp and Gnocchi (pasta dumpling) for me....plus some awesome bread....with a bottle of wine....we WILL be eating there again before we leave Rome.

That brings us to now which is 1137 pm and past my bed time. We did take a stroll and I had a cigar after dinner....it is safer from pick pockets in this area because it isn't as "touristy".....and pick pockets are the only crime to speak of here....but we will STILL carry our stuff differently after today.

Tomorrow it's back to the same area as today to see the Roman Forum.....it's MANY old monuments/ruins/sites.....you should Google it.....I have to change to my  phone to  post a pic of our dinner tonight....Stephs lasagna  included bruschetta (unsmoked bacon)....and it was "take a bite and giggle" good!!  My shrimp were cooked with the head still on and it woulda embarassed Chef-Boy  arDee so bad he woulda quit cooking!!  :)