-----Original Message-----

From: Dan Burke

Sent: Tuesday, June 01, 2004 8:19 AM

To: Dan Burke

Subject: Holy Roman Empire Batman!

I think prego is to Italians what fuck is to

Americans. It's a word you can use anywhere for any

thing. Just one of those versatile words I guess.

Frankly, I'm ready to kick in the teeth of the next

Italian that says prego to me. You see, I've been laid

out in my hotel room for the past few days sick. I had

a combo of a cold and severe allergies hit me at once

when I got to Rome. Now I'm nursing an inhaler with my

newly found asthma. I'm on the up swing though, so

don't worry about me.

I know I've been pushing things a bit for the past 30

days. I've been to 7 countries, 13 major cities and

through about 2,000 villages in between. I've been on

islands, crossed seas and oceans, you get the picture.

What I didn't realize is how much I was pushing myself

for the 60 days prior to this trip. So now, here I

sit, hacking up my lungs in Rome. Taking a...

breather?

Rome is huge. I said this to a few girls from Paris

and she said (the cute one eying me):

"Actually, I think it's kinda small. Much smaller than

I thought."

I was dizzy at the moment and couldn't spit out my

point correctly. Rome is huge in grander, or in depth,

not in physical size like LA or something. No, no.

From that perspective, Rome feels smaller than San

Francisco. But the buildings and streets are all wide

and massive. Romans were into big, but not tall. They

were into impressive but not with height.... I suppose

the best way to say it is they were into gurth

(somehow a fitting word). Each monument (most) has

major curb appeal. Grand. Larger than life. God like.

So I babble.

It's easy to see the heritage of greatness here. Every

where you step there is a 2,000 year old monument or

temple, many churches, basilicas, temples, forums,

etc. I've been to the Colosseum, the Roman Forum,

Trajan's column, the major arches, the Pantheon. I had

to skip today's events for self preservation, but

tomorrow I see Vatican city! Looking forward to that.

On Thursday, I'll tour the Borgese museum and grounds,

and hopefully fit in the Roman Museum.

Lot's to do, many things to see. Lot's of snot, many

tissues to soil.

More for the infirmary soon. And damn Rome is

polluted! Think smog in LA is bad? Come check out this

air.

Prego,

Dan