Rome (5/5/08)

Well we made it to Rome safe and sound. We left Saturday morning to take the metro to Naples and then a train here to Rome. The train ride was quick and quiet so it was a nice break from the normal means of transportation. We walked around the Rome train station forever trying to find a restroom. Here in Italy signs to find something are scarce. Half the time no one knows what you are trying to find and the signs are far and few between. We took a bus to a stop near our hotel and then walked the rest of the way. Our friends, Kristen and Kimberly Kallstrom had arrived in Rome a few hours before and met us at the hotel. After sitting down, enjoying a good cappuccino and catching up, we went and walked around near the Colosseum. There were a lot of people although apparently it was not as crowded as it gets. For dinner we went to a nice Piazza although I didn't particularly care for the restaurant. They had a sign up for a happy hour dinner special and when we ended up paying for dinner, they didn't give us the special price, which would have been half the cost. The waiter or manager (I'm not sure exactly what he was) did'nt speak very good English and so he couldn't understand what we were trying to say. Ah well, these things happen. On the walk back, we enjoyed some gelato and then caught a bus to near our hotel.

Sunday we went to the Coloseum itself and had a tour. We then went to Trevi fountain and the Spanish steps. We met my aunt Carla on the Spanish steps so it was nice to see her again as it had been more than a year since the last time I saw her. (she is going to do a tour of Italy and then we meet her in Paris. She is taking me to London with her at the end of our trip) We came back to do laundry at the laundramat, but since it was Sunday, they were closed. We went to the grocery store and got a picnic dinner and enjoyed it in the nice garden here at the hotel.

Today we went to Vatican City. The line to get into the Vatican was blocks and blocks long. We ended up doing a tour and so we were able to get in while avoiding the lines and have someone tell us the history of the Sistene Chapel etc. I really liked our tour guide and he did a great job of explaining everything. He was also very passionate about it which made it exciting for everyone else. Everything was completely crowded though. When we were done with our tour we went outside and it was raining fairly hard. Of course, this morning before we left, I took my poncho out of my bag because I was tired of carrying it around and the weather has been so nice. All the street vendors suddenly came up with a million umbrellas and tried to sell them to everyone without one. I managed ok without although my feet did get quite wet because I was wearing flip flops. We stopped and had lunch at a nice pizza place and then came back to the hotel. We took our laundry to the laundramat and now I am sitting here waiting to go back and get the laundry once it's dry. In fact I think that I will need to do that now before they close.

Tomorrow we head to the Cinque Terre. I think that it will be a nice break from the go, go, go that we have been doing. Until then, arrivederci.