when in rome...

Wear lots of sunscreen. Actually, do this anywhere in Italy, apparently clouds do not exist there.

Feeling rested and refreshed after our glorious nap, we headed out to explore Rome. We walked down by the Colosseum and figured what we had to do to get tickets inside. Though, right then some guy asked us if we wanted to buy tickets for the Colosseum, skip the line, and even get a guided tour of the Forum. Of course, with this sounding so suspicious and sketchy, we decided to do it. Got inside and toured the place. It is actually a lot smaller on the inside than it looks. I mean, it is still big, but not as big as I was thinking.

The tour guide we had spoke poor English and part of the tour I had no idea what she was talking about, but overall it was good. Random side note: 'when in Rome,' bring a water bottle and drink lots of water! There are fountains you can refill at all over the place, for free. After the tour of the Colosseum, we headed over to the Forum with a new tour guide. There we saw the old Senate building, some ruins, the Palace of Domitia, the House of the Vestal Virgins, some ruins, the Palantine Hill, the chariot field Circus Maximus (which is now just a hole), and some more ruins. Though we did get to see the most expensive marble in the world, which goes for €18,000 per cubic centimeter! Which can only be found in the Forum, the Vatican, the Louvre, and one other place in the world since the Romans exhausted the mine.

After the tour we headed towards the Wedding Cake building, which was where Mussolini propped up cardboard cutouts of soldiers to impress Hilter. And Hitler actually complimented him on his sizable army. What a nimrod. After that we headed towards Piazza Navona and saw S. Agnese in Agone, the church fronting the plaza. We walked through the artists painting and the street performers and tried to find a place to eat. We stumbled on the Pantheon and went inside. That place is crowded. All the time. Left and found a little place to get some food. We thought the place looked nice and friendly, but we were wrong. We had some pill of a waitress who was bent on thinking we only wanted drinks. She argued with a waiter for a bit and he came over and asked us if we could move. Ordered drinks. Payton and I got ours, and waited about 15 minutes for Keith to get his. Apparently he never ordered. So, he finally ordered his drink and we ordered our food. It was good, but in all honesty, the Capellini Pomodora at the Olive Garden is better, and they give you bread. Got our check - Keith and Payton's food was €1 more than on the menu and Payton and my drinks were €3 more. Awful experience. Tipped way too much. Also, do not get the house wine unless you know what it is, because chances are it will taste like watered-down plant fertilizer.

After hightailing it out of there we came upon the Trevi Fountain. Took some pictures, made some wishes. Good times. The crowd around that thing is amazing. So many people. Then we headed towards Piazza di Spagna to see those fancy steps. Crowded, as expected, but fantastic people watching. We hung out there for a while getting beer shoved in our faces from the local panhandlers and photo-bombing pictures. Then we headed back and slept.

In the morning we got up early and caught the metro to Piazza San Pietro. We were under the impression that the Pope would be making an address that Sunday, but he was away. Lame. Instead we took photos of San Pietro and the Basilica's sexy angles and curves. Random side note: if you ever make it to Piazza San Pietro make sure you stand on the medallions in the paving between the obelisk and the fountain on either side. All the columns in the colonnade will line up. Just one of those little perks of researching the plaza. Walked around to find someolace to eat and bought a hat. It cost €10, but I like it and my head is not sunburnt.

Walked over to Castel San Angelo and look around in the market nearby. Keith and Payton bought some dried/candied fruit. Delicious! I bought a slice of pizza. Meh. Then we headed towards the Villa Borghese gardens. Walked up the stairs towards the gardens and got a group photo. Random side note: unless you specify to people that you want 'this' or 'that' in the background of your photo, you will get a picture of your group and the sky. Beautiful. Walked around the city some more and finally found Piazza Campidoglio. Rested there for a bit and headed back towards our hostel to find something to eat. We found a small restaurant and ordered food with a bottle of wine. Towards the end of our meal these two ladies sitting at the adjacent table started talking with us. We talked about where we are from, where we are going in Europe, etc etc. They were very nice and gave us some good inside information on traveling in Italy.

Which I will share with all of you. These ladies told us that Italy, specifically Rome, is notorious for screwing tourists over. Firstly: tips are not required in Italy. In fact, most restaurant employees are on salary and get a month paid vacation. So a tip of €2 or €3 is perfect in a €50 check. Secondly: many restaurants will have an Italian menu and an English menu. And the English menu has higher prices than the Italian menu. Or they will just charge English people more because we do not pay attention to that kind of thing and will just pay the bill.

In the morning we got out to the Vatican early for our tour of the museum and Basilica. We had a very energetic and charismatic tour guide who gave our group the 'uncensored' tour. It was really cool, she had a lot of little side stories that she said the other tour guides do not tell/know about. History and art overload. Awesome. We also saw some hot statue buns and had the chance to touch some of that marble - most expensive thing I will ever touch. After the tour was over we climbed up the Basilica's cupola. 500-some steps, the way up was more than the way down. In any case, amazing views of Rome. Stayed up there for quite some time.

When we came down we went into the Basilica, which is HUGE! It looks big from the outside, but inside - whoa! Saw Michelangelo's Pieta, which is behind (I believe) bulletproof glass because some idiot took a pot-shot at it. Then we rushed off to catch the train to Florence. Since we could not find a good place for dessert, we had it at the train station. We all shared a pastry with custard filling. Even at the train station in Italy food is delicious. We boarded our train and headed towards Florence.

That is all for now. I have Florence all typed up too, but I am going to tease you and post it tomorrow or the day after. He he!

steinkraus.