England, Scotland, Wales, Australia, Mexico, Canada and West Virginia are the only foreign countries I’ve traveled. And in all fairness, I have only driven through West Virginia. Stopped for gas, but that’s it. Never talked to the locals. Never tried to learn their language or customs.

Here come the e-mails from West Virginians. For the record, I have a friend who attended WVU… and he has no abandoned cars in his yard… yet. (I’m joking… you know that, right? I don’t support stereotypes, no matter how accurate. If you’re from West Virginia, feel free to take some playful shots at me. Here’s a list to choose from: I’m from Cleveland Brown country, a Buckeye, grew up in one of the saddest rusted out steel mill towns in the Northeast, lived in Los Angeles for 15 years, surfed a lot, have had no fewer than 4 concussions… 1 surfing badly, 2 skateboarding badly, 1 mountain biking badly… okay, that’s enough ammo.)

The Vatican Click here for MORE PHOTOS from Mike

So back to Italy… If you’ve ever been locked inside a very small coat closet then you know what European hotel rooms, elevators, cars and showers are like. Europeans must require less space to live than Americans.

Driving through Rome in what passes for a station wagon here (think Yugo) is really like watching video of millions of blood cells squirting through veins. It is seriously screwed up and one hell of a lot of fun... for the driver. Andy is still stuck to the ceiling of the car.

I am not kidding when I say this: I hit a total of four cars. Perhaps I should have purchased the extra rent-a-car insurance. Before you freak out consider that I left little damage. At least not enough for the other drivers to be bothered. Just today I was driving in such a tight squeeze that my side door mirrors clipped the cars on both sides of me. It’s that tight. Very crowded. Narrow roads. I loved it. Andy… not so much.

I liked Rome… but it was a little disappointing in a way. All really huge cities lose their souls over time. That’s not to say they are not great cities, they’re just great cities with no souls. Rome is like that. I’ve been in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City and London. Like Rome, they all feel the same in that distant, detached-from-human touch sot of way. They have to. It’s how such cities survive. They become impersonal.

But the architecture of Rome --and the meaning behind it all-- is simply staggering. Vatican City… St. Peter’s Square… the Sistine Chapel, the Colosseum are just a few and they are overwhelming to see. As an American it’s hard to wrap your mind around a colosseum built a couple thousand years ago. The Charlotte Coliseum was built in the late 1980s and it already has zero architectural value. It had none the day it opened. Other than Maya Lin’s giant round bushes lining the boulevard entrance it is a big unattractive block-wall building surrounded by acres and acres of asphalt. What a gem!

If you’ve only seen it on TV or in movies like I had, you just can’t understand how enormous Vatican City is… St Peter’s Square is beyond ominous in its size and feel. Andy and I kept muttering stunned, “Wow!”s.”

Andy and I did Rome at break-neck speed. We landed at 9:45 AM. Rented a car. Drove to the Vatican and started shooting a story. We shot two stories that day and left town the next morning heading north toward Torino. Not much time to enjoy the Romans. When in Rome… don’t do what we did.

Our one night in Rome Andy and I walked around looking for good cheap restaurant. We hit the jackpot with a trattoria (less fancy than a ristorante but not as casual as “family style”). Homemade pasta and simple tomato sauce. The cheese was fresh and the bread actually had a rich texture and flavor. It was a meal my mother would have loved. Her family is from Italy. I’ve told you that before.

Well, the Winter Olympics in Torino loom on the horizon. Between now and the end on Feb. 26, I’ll keep you up on what’s happening here and try to let you in on the stuff you won’t see on TV. Remind me to tell you how we watched the Super Bowl here… in the middle of the night. It was a hoot until we didn’t get back to our rooms ‘til 6 AM. I’m too old for that.

Okay my fellow Americans, I have to get some sleep.

Ciao!

Mike Redding