WHEN IN ROME...

You know it's funny, I've been using that saying jokingly throughout alot of our trip, and I had mentioned to Lindsay that it'll be funny to apply it once we're actually in Rome. Note: We've already established that I'm a bit of nerd, so it shouldn't come as a surprise to you to hear that I would find something like that funny... But would you know it, I completely forgot to use that saying over the past two and half days that we spent here in this beautiful city. What a shame.

One of the coolest features of hitting up so many different cities, across such a vast amount of territory, would have to be experiencing how each one is different in both style and personality. Starting in Paris offered a really great measuring stick for comparing atmosphere, people, etc. Rome is VERY different from Paris. Rome is the biggest city we've been in since leaving Paris, yet has a completely different feel to it. Paris suddenly seems colder and more aristocratic now having experience a deeper sense of vibrancy that Rome exudes. I can't say that it was necessarily the Italians that exuded this, as the city seems run by tourists (which is so bizarre, as practically everyone around us was either British or American it seemed). Instead, it was more the history and buildings that spoke of a life and world unlike anything we've ever experienced.

Our first night in Rome was fantastic. Again, as usual, we dropped our bags off and looked up a place to have dinner. We found this place that described itself as offering an authentic Italian home-cooked meal, prepared by the owner - an old Italian lady. Sounded great, so we looked at our maps to see how we'd get there, and what there was to see along the way. Being the evening, we thought it'd be cool to check out some of the famous fountains in Rome, and anything else nearby worth seeing. So we hopped onto the Roman subway system, which like Paris has one of the best systems - though not nearly as many lines as Paris has - and we made our way toward the famous Trevi Fountain. I don't think I was prepared for what my eyes laid upon once arriving at this fountain - it's ginormous! It takes up a whole side of a building, and consists of a handful of the most beautifully sculpted statues (which were gigantic). We kept walking through these winding alleys which have clearly become popularized by tourists, as they are lined with restaurants and souvenir shops, and we kept stumbling upon ancient building, after building. It was incredible to turn a corner, only to find another jaw-dropping feat of architecture after another. The best was coming out of one of the alleys into a large open piazza and seeing the Pantheon just standing there.

We kept maneuvering, ending at the famous Piazza Navona before finding our restaurant nearby. Sure enough when we entered the restuarant, out from the kitchen popped this classical image of an old Italian mama wearing an apron and inviting us into the restaurant. We had a seat and waited for our waiter to drop by. He didn't come very quickly, and when he did he simply asked us if we wanted red wine or white. After leaving, I remarked that we hadn't received any menu yet, and thought it would be super cool if they just started showing up with plates of food. Not even a minute later, out popped the waiter with a big 1L jug of red wine, and a bunch of plates with antipasta's - like meats, olives, a fantastic plate of beans, some fresh fennel, and some bread. We were so blown away, and the food was fantastic! Next came our Primi of a cheesy tomato sauce covered rigatoni dish that was some of the best pasta I've ever eaten, followed by our Secondi of veal, with some boccancini, potato chips (which was funny to see), and some bitter greens that were fun to try but wouldn't eat again. Anywho, after being stuffed by all this food, the waiter came out and said that would be 50 euros flat... ... we were like, that's all? You have to understand that 50 euros for such a large meal with wine and everything is an INCREDIBLE price. We left that place so stinkin' happy, goodtimes. :-)

After spending some more time retracing our steps back through the route that got us there, we hopped on the subway and went back to the hotel, getting some sleep for the following big day: Vatican City and the Sistine Chapel! I was really excited for this day, and it completely outdid my expectations. Vatican City, St. Peter's Basilica, and the Sistine Chapel Museum are likely going to be my biggest highlights of the entire trip, and have only helped to cement Rome as the most magnificent city we've ever visited. The artwork, the history, and the grandeur of that trio beat out everything we've seen thus far, and that is saying ALOT. The Louvre has nothing on those three combined (which they really are basically one whole experience).

The subway ride over was quite nice, though a little packed. We entered into the Piazza in front of St. Peter's Basilica and instantly knew we were in for a great day. There were line-ups at each place we went to, but they moved super quick, so waiting was never an issue. Words can't even come close to describing these places, so you'll have to check out the pics linked to below to get an idea.

On our way back to the hotel afterward, we decided to check out 'The Spanish Steps', as well as retrace our route from the night before to see everything in the daylight. The Spanish Steps are boring. Period. It's a huge bunch of steps that people sit around on in front of some old Spanish Embassy. I guess some people love them, we just thought it was boring. Also, the fountains are WAY cooler at night when they're all lit up as opposed to in the light of day, but the Piazza Navona had alot more going on during the day, which made it neater. The best part of our re-trace though was that the Pantheon was opened up so we could see inside. It's really cool in there, the ceiling is trippy. One of the more bizarre things happened at this place as well - I was taking video of the ceiling, and when I looked back down there was this creepy looking dude standing inches away from my face. I was like, "Can I help you?", and he was like, "You're in my way, I want to move straight." I turned and looked behind me, then looked back at him with a "you've got issues my friend" face, stepped aside and said, "well by all means, move ahead." Afterward I followed him taking video so I can show people this nutbag when we get back home. I thought it was a suitable revenge. What a freakshow, lol. We had dinner that night at a relatively forgettable restaurant, which was really the first "whatever" meal we've had in Italy.

Today was our last day in Rome, and it was another incredible experience. We woke up and had breakfast at our hotel, which is funny because the Italian version of a hotel breakfast is stale croissants crusted with sugar, and bread with nutella. Don't get me wrong, I actually have grown to like it all, and who doesn't enjoy nutella. It's just funny cuz' it's such a bad breakfast, lol. Afterward we grabbed the subway down to the Colosseum! It was nuts, cuz we got off the subway, exited the station onto the street, looked up, and there it was right in front of us. It was a really cool reveal. Again, words are useless to describe the Colosseum here so check out the pics. We got in line to enter the place, only to find out that they only took cash to get in. We had enough for Lindsay to get in, but I had to go on a marathon around the area to find an ATM. That's life I guess. I joined up with Lindsay inside and we spent the next hour and a half just admiring this colossal place. The history here just bleeds out of it's remains. The place wasn't at all what I had envisioned throughout my youth, as it's basically just the shell of what it once was thousands of years ago. We learned that the Romans abandoned the Colosseum and later stripped all of it's rich stone away to build new places in their city - leaving the Colosseum looking like a picked apart carcass. It was still cool though, really cool actually, just not what I had envisioned.

This area of Rome is steeped in an atmosphere of history, which makes sense as it's the site of Ancient Rome. Beside the Colosseum are the ruins of ancient Rome, which were so unique. We had seen some Roman ruins in France that were really cool, and made sense to look at, but the ruins here were mostly, well, ruined, lol. You'd look around and see SO much, but two-thirds of it all made no sense whatsoever. You couldn't even try to imagine what it would have looked like, it was like trying to focus a camera that just won't become sharp. It was incredible to walk through though, and some of the things were in pretty good shape, or had been restored. We then walked around that area of the city, just wandering and admiring whatever we saw.

We found that we had some time in the late afternoon, so we headed over to a laundry place near our hotel with all of our "two weeks and change" old clothes that were in desperate need of washing. I've been really amazed though at how long we've managed to go without doing laundry. We've washed our socks and underwear a few times in our hotel sinks and bathtubs, but our actual clothes haven't been cleaned since we've been here. It was a neat little place that is also a hostel and an internet cafe, and is run by a couple of VERY eccentric young people. One of them is a nerdy Italian guy that was a bit of a perv and a weirdo, and the other is this really cool Austrian girl who Lindsay and I chatted up for a quite a while. After leaving we made it back to our hotel just as it started to pour. We had little time to spare though in order to make our dinner reservation, so we headed out in a light drizzle, as the rain was tapering off. We searched forever for the stupid restaurant, which was nearby the Colosseum, and finally found it tucked away just as the rain was picking up again. For the second night in a row the meal was just okay but not really that great, especially compared to Lucca and that first night in Rome. The saving grace was the owner, who brought us out a free shooter of some cold bright yellow liquor. I took one look at it and said to this Lindsay, "I bet this is Limoncello", which is a famous Italian lemon liquor. It's the stuff that George Clooney and Danny Devito once got famously hammered from one night out drinking together. Sidenote: Danny Devito now owns his own label of Limoncello, too funny. Anyways, the stuff is awesome! Strong though, but really tasty. I asked the owner if that was Limoncello, and he said it was, at which point I mentioned it was our first time having it. Well what do you know, the guy brought us out another round of shooters on the house! It was really such a nice touch. The place also had a really authentic feel to it, as there were practically no other tourists there, and ALOT of old local Italian guys sitting down to a huge bowl of this or that. It was funny because it seemed like they all knew each other, as though this place was their "Cheers", and everybody knew their name. We left pretty satisfied despite the so-so food, and walked around the outside of the Colosseum to admire it all lit up at night. It was a bit disappointing though, as they really haven't lit it up very well at all. I don't mean that it needs to be flooded with light, simply that it isn't lit well. It looked bland and dull, needing quite a few more properly placed lights... at least that's our opinion having seen so many night shots of places lit up all across Europe. It started to rain again though, which cut our walk short, and it was POURING when we exited the Subway station near our hotel. We got soaked, but it's all good :-)

We're really sad to leave Rome tomorrow morning, but once again, as with everywhere we've been, we feel satisfied that we've seen all that there really is to see. I'll never forget Rome for as long as I live - if you ever have a choice between Paris OR Rome, pick Rome. Both are fantastic and worth visiting, but Rome edges Paris out by a nose. Enjoy these two albums of Rome, the first one is a continuation of the Lucca and Pisa album from the previous post, while the second one is pure Rome. We're starting to remark to each other now that there's really only a week left in Europe, and the reality of going home is really starting to set in. We're ignoring it as much as we can, but man, we wish we could just travel for ever... that's life though I guess. Next stop Firenze (Florence) and Michaelangelo's famous statue of David, can't wait!