Thanks Phil and Cliff!

A special blog shout out today to my old Philly pal, Phil; who was nice enough to forward me an article about a great running route in Rome from this month's Continental Airlines magazine. It is nice to think that when people think of Italy, they are now reminded of me! I am not sure if this is good or bad for Italy, but it is definitely great for me!! Since I just received the article this morning, and it is a glorious sunny Saturday in Rome AND I had just told Josh last night that I really slacked off in running this past week, I took the email as a direct sign that I should try the route out immediately. So after sleeping in a bit and my morning coffee I grabbed my running shoes and off I went. The day is perfect, 75 degrees (that is Fahrenheit thank you very much, I can't figure this Celsius stuff out for the life of me) in the noonday sun, with a slight, cool new autumn breeze filtering through the Cyprus trees. God simply does not grant better days than this. My only hope is that it is similar weather in Central Ohio today, where my Buckeyes are scheduled to kickoff in just a few hours at the Horseshoe.

The route was great, a 2.5 mile loop through Villa Borghese, which most people consider to be the best park in Rome. From my handfuls of experiences there, I have no reason to argue, it is beautiful! Think of 148 acres of green space with winding roads, museums, ponds and fountains. Up and down the rolling slopes, there is a view around every corner that is enough to keep you running to the next to see what lies ahead. Today was the perfect park scene. Picnickers dotted along underneath the canopy of trees, tourists resting with a gelato on the marble steps of the Museum of Modern Art, clear blue water in the fountains and ponds, well dressed Italians out for a Saturday promenade and children riding ponies... you can't make this stuff up!

To get to the park from our apartment in Monti is about a 20 minute walk/warm up trot through some great neighborhoods. I passed by the US Embassy along the Via Veneto, which you might recognize as the street of Audrey Hepburn's famous Vespa ride in "Roman Holiday". Today as I made my way to and from the park the outdoor, street side cafes were just starting to fill up with the ultra hip and trendy neighborhood crowd, this was almost as good as nature watching! I kept my eyes peeled for familiar faces, as there are supposedly many celebs in town, stopping off on their way to and from the Venice film festival for a little Roman Holiday of their own. George Clooney is said to be a very great admirer and friend of Rome's major and Brad and Angelina are rumored to have just bought a new yacht, docked off one of the coastal towns near Rome. Alas, no star spotting for me today, but I am certain I will run into someone at a bar or cafe one of these days!

The city is also abuzz with activity today because tonight is La Notta Bianca, the White Night. All of the major European capitals host this end of the summer festival. All of the piazzas are filled with musical performances or art installations, the museums stay open all night with free entry and in general everyone stays up all night and wanders through the city enjoying the scenes of music, dance, art and people watching. Josh and I are going to give it out best attempt. The whole city celebrates and there are so many things to see, I think it would be impossible to see them all, but there is certainly enough to keep you out all night. My goal is to make it to dawn to see the sunrise from the piazza on top of the Gianocolo hill, by far the best view of the city. We'll see though, we don't exactly have our European threshold of partying up to its full potential yet. Thank god I started drinking coffee!