Rome, Italy

This past weekend, we took four days and headed to Rome. We had beautiful weather to be outside and see everything there was to see. It got rather warm on us as it got into the 90's, but much better than rain. Some of the main things we saw were the Colosseum, Roman Forms, Vatican, Sistine Chapel, Pantheon, the usual. We saw a lot more than this, but these are the big things that people usually think of.

We were lucky that we reserved a hostel that had an air conditioner in it. I didn't even think of it when I was looking at places to stay, but it sure was great to have. We were soaked with sweat when we got back, and it was nice to sleep in the coolness.

Traveling with Jay is quite a workout. He pushes to see as much as he can in a short amount of time. We had four days, but he didn't want to miss a thing. We hit up the Vatican tour and went through all of the museums the first day, walked around the Colosseum, and saw a few other sites. On the second day, we spent most of the day touring the Colosseum and the Roman Forms. We had a tour guide, so learned what all the ruins used to be and who used them. It was all very interesting. It made me wish I paid more attention in social studies class back in the day. I remember learning about so much of it, but couldn't tell you anything about it. On the third day, we went to the Pantheon, several Piazza's (which are open squares in the middle of lots of buildings), several fountains, Spanish steps, and I'm sure more, but can't remember. By our last day there, we had seen it all. There wasn't a single spot that we wanted to go to that we hadn't already seen. So, we slowly moved around the city all day simply wasting time. We were already checked out of our hostel, so couldn't go back to that. By 3:00, we were getting bored. It's sad to say that we were getting bored in Rome.

The food... well.... for us, it didn't hold up to the praise that everyone gives it. We didn't think it was all that great. Jay said I make better spaghetti than they had. Pizza Hut makes better pizzas (in the states, not over here). And the prices... that was enough to starve us. On our first night there, we went to a restaurant (the cheapest on the block) and ended up spending $51 on our meal. Our drinks alone cost over $20, including a $7 can of Coke! Yikes!!!! We tried the wine because eveyone says it's so great, but the two of us had to choke down the one glass that we bought. At least we said we tried it. I guess you have to spend the really big bucks to get a fantastic meal that everyone faves about... and $51 isn't the big bucks! Unfortunately, we did a lot of McDonalds just to get by. Not my favorite meal, but it sometimes has to do.

This was our $51 meal... and the bread was free!!

Nonetheless, we had a fantastic trip. We saw so many things and really enjoyed our time there.

Our way of cooling down on a hot afternoon.

If you want to see more pictures, go to my picasa site. I have a lot on there! (and you can see Jay in a tight purple tank top that I wasn't allowed to put on here!!!)