K and I have been in Rome for about 48 hours now, and we can (just) get by in restaurants, shops and so on: Italian is pretty easy for an English speaker with a decent ear for accent and a good Latinate vocabulary. The high point so far was successfully ordering a 1/2 litre carafe of red wine today at lunch. I’m a bit apprehensive about asking for the bill at the end of the meal – it seems to me that asking for the “conto” could go horribly, horribly wrong.

Oh, and the Italians really know how to eat. I could definitely live here, which is more than I can say (despite my love for their compassiate and intelligent socialism-lite), for Sweden (sorry, Peter).