#1 Done. Happy New Year

Happy 2013! We decided to skip the official Colosseum New Year’s Eve Celebration and brave the “People’s” celebration in Piazza del Popolo. Although mostly unregulated and chaotic, it felt right. Everyone was throwing MD-80s and firecrackers into the center of the square, but it never felt overly dangerous. Everyone drinking champaign. No fights. No explosions in the crowd. No way you experience anything like this in the States. And all of it centered around an Egyptian obelisk, known as the obelisco Flaminio or the Popolo Obelisk. It’s the second oldest and one of the tallest obelisks in Rome. And yet, I didn’t see one policeman.