Originally posted on July 18, 2011 by Canicus

Today is the Sabbath, so I rested. Not quite correct Jewish observance. I decided to rest and see if I could get one of the blisters to begin to heal. I did walk over to Termini for a late breakfast and picked up yesterday’s London Times. Spent a good part of the day reading virtually all of it.

The world seems to still be out there. Syrians are a missile threat to the Middle East. Murdoch is in trouble with the British Parliament and the American FBI. The Brits don’t want to give the crews of the planes refueling the fighters in Lybia hazardous duty pay too expensive for the cash strapped government. The Republicans in Washington are acting more like jackasses than elephants. President Obama is showing some backbone.

And Thomas Voeckler is wearing the Yellow Jersey in the Tour de France. If I recall, he’s the kid who got the Yellow in the Alps nearly an hour up on Armstrong when Armstrong was dominating the Tour. And the kid held on until the end of the Pyrenees stages before Armstrong closed the gap. This year he has the Schleck brothers, Evans and Basso on his tail. Contador is 7th, 4 minutes back.

I had dinner at one of the sidewalk restaurants near Termini. Good food. But I had someone try to sell me a watch. “No” didn’t work so I pointed at mine and said I already have one. Another guy came by selling carved wooden animals. Nice, but no way I could bring them back. Yet another guy with an accordian wanted to serenade me. And a woman came by begging but one of the waitresses gave her “the look” and she took off.

Update on McDonald’s. I mentioned earlier that there was a McDonald’s inside Termini and another “a stone’s throw away.” (Well maybe if you were a major league outfielder.) I then discovered there was another on the lower level of Termini almost directly under the first one I discovered. Since then I noticed three more over by the Plaza of the Republic. That makes 6 within walking distance of each other!

No photos today.