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THE HONEYMOON SUITE The Newsletter for Michael and Rochelle's Honeymoon Volume II, Number 1 -- Day 6 Table of Contents: Website Updates Post Wedding Notes The Honeymoon Rome's Y2K Problem Pros and Cons of Rome in July, 1999   Website Updates That's right, even though we're thousands of miles from home, we couldn't resist our exhibitionistic urges, and the website has gotten updated. We updated it just before we left, with a new post-wedding organization, including some wedding photos, our wedding ceremony (at least, the wedding ceremony as we wrote it, not as we performed it ;-), and groovy new graphics. And from here in Italy, in spite of really sucky Internet access, we've updated it some more, with photos taken on the road, organized by theme. Currently available is "Food"; coming soon are "Tacky Pope Stuff" and "Great Buildings Behind Scaffolding"... Check it out, at the same URL: http://www.haightlife.com/wedding/   Post Wedding Notes We want to thank all of you who were able to attend our wedding. We had a great time, and hope that everyone else did also. The day went by so quickly! We're so sorry we were not able to talk to everyone in-depth at the wedding or the reception. It seemed to both of us that we spent too little time talking to our family and friends, that there were many people we just didn't have more than a few minutes with. There were a lot of folks who helped us with the day, including a number of people who spontaneously pitched in to make things come out right. Thank you so much, we really appreciated your gift of time and effort to make the day smoother and more fun for everyone. A few Tug-'o-War notes, mostly grumblings from the Groom's Side, who lost. It should not go unnoticed that the Bride's Side took the field first, and helped themselves to the downhill side, as well as a generous allocation of rope, the better to tie knots in for a good grip. The Groom takes satisfaction in continuing to give the Bride extra rope (enough to hang by), because in spite of the Bride being right in all arguments for the coming year, it does not mean that her choice of directions in unfamiliar Rome is always correct...and her dangling feet are very cute. ;-)   The Honeymoon Probably the most frequently asked question during our wedding reception was "Where are you going on your honeymoon?" The answer is Rome, Italy. Michael took the week after the wedding off from work (mostly), while Rochelle frantically finished a major project. We departed for Rome on Friday afternoon. Our very long flight took us from SFO to Heathrow, where we connected with our second plane, taking us to Rome's airport, outside the city itself. An express train and a long walk brought us to the home of a friend of the people whose home we're staying at. He took us to the apartment, and left us to decompress. After half an hour, we went out to get dinner, which lasted 2 hours, until we went back and crashed, shortly after midnight. We departed our own house at 2:15pm on Friday, and arrived in our apartment in Rome at 10:15pm Saturday night. A long trip, but exciting. We're on our honeymoon at last!   Rome's Y2K Problem, aka, Jubilee 2000 These days, the Catholic Church and the Pope are in even less favor with us than before, which we didn't think was possible. Why? you ask. Well, apparently 60 million "pilgrims" are expected to descend upon Rome during the millennium year, declared by the Pope to be a holy year. And apparently, much like computer programmers, the Holy See and the Italians were taken by surprise by the arrival of the year 2000. The consequence is that half of Rome (all the best parts) is hidden under scaffolding, being "restored" for next year's Jubilee 2000 (J2K). We're still having a good time, but we're definitely bitter that we can't see all the sights we were looking forward to, at least not completely. Of course, we're not nearly as horrified as we'd be if we'd come next year, with all those extra people... So here's our advice: Stay away from Rome until 2001 or 2002, when it's nice and clean and restored, and after the hordes of pilgrims have left.   Pros and Cons of Rome in July, 1999 Cons   Pros Hot, really hot   Ice cold water fountains Scaffolding everywhere   Plethoria of impressive buildings Crowded   Here with new spouse J2K -- Pope sucks   Great, cheap house wines Capitoline closed (J2K)   Bernini exhibit Few 'Net cafes   Cheese here rocks! Byzantine transit lines   Exchanging houses rules! Sit down charges at cafes   Churches == Cool, free seats Full Monty sweating (hot)   Pizza to go -- yum! yum!     2+ hour dinners     Foot massage lotion     Ice water foot baths Bonus Rants The piazza signs replace street signs so you don't know if you are going in the right direction until you have walked a block. Subway stops running solely based on the fact that honeymooners are too tipsy on the above-mentioned house wine to easily make their way home in the 10 minutes it should take, resulting in 1.5 hours of meandering entertainment for natives. Spanish Steps closed for a week just to annoy brides who have to drag their new husbands away from masses of supermodels rehearsing for an über-fashion show. When in Rome, "Let's just show up, see what happens" means "Let's get lost, not know what we're looking at, get hot, hungry, and grumpy". Groom only takes over directional power when: Bride is overcome by heat exhaustion, and Groom is really, really sure of where they are. After 5 days, Groom has still somehow prevented entry into EVEN ONE SINGLE MUSEUM. Bride is convinced Groom paid the Vatican guard to claim her skirt was too short -- thus labeling the Bride a "ho" and saving him at least 4 hours in St. Peter's and the Vatican Museum. Bride also convinced Groom was "faking it" when he claimed he, too, was sad the Capitoline Museum was closed for J2K renovations. [ Please. All of Rome is a museum. We've seen more Berninis just wandering around than at the Bernini Exhibit. The Groom is entirely unapologetic. ]