Roma!

We're in Rome! Our train ride here was a smooth ride. We got a place to store our luggage (which has now reached "ridiculously heavy" status), got in our assigned seats, and enjoyed a swift air conditioned ride to Rome. The catch came when our taxi driver cheated us and charged WAY too much for our ride. But oh well, we got to our hotel! It's called Nizza (like Pizza with an N...see how I remember it?) The room is much bigger than our last and the bathroom has a real tub, but then things get a bit confusing. The AC is about as effective as an astmatic child in a balloon blowing contest, we compare the pillows to bags of rocks, and the shower head points to the middle of the bathroom and there's no shower curtain to stop it! It is hilarious! The TV is the best though. I'm going to make an instructional video on how to use it because it is insane. I'm going to be a millionaire my marketing shower curtains, air conditioniners, tv's, and dvd players over here. But the hotel really is great. They serve some wonderful coffee and croissants in the morning and the elevator arrives at our floor whenever I sit down to wait for it.

The first day, we developed a great system to avoid a heat stroke. We'd go visit places on our list (The Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, gelato stands) and on the way between each of them, we'd stop in each church we passed. They are always beautiful, quiet, and cool. They even started saying mass in German for a tour group of teenagers so we stayed.

The sights here are unreal. I'll load pictures soon because anything I say just won't cut it. We visited ancient Rome yesterday. The Colosseum, Circus Maximus, and the Roman Forum were first of all incredibly old, and secondly filled with so much history. The whole city is like that. We were walking around the other day and passed a place that looked like some ruins, so we stopped to read the sign. In small writing on one of the places marked in those ruins it said, "This is where Caesar was killed". In any other city, a sight like that would stand out way more than a slight mention on an average map.

We've been having some great food too (duh). I went with veal with tomato sauce and a side of spinach with olive oil and lemon the other night. Talk about good. The veal was in little chunks still on the bone (is that a shank?). It was amazing and only about 9€.

We went to the Vatican today and that is by far my favorite thus far on the trip. The Sistine Chapel is a sight everyone should see. They didn't allow pictures, but there are some online I'm sure. Michaelangelo was quite the guy. St. Peter's basilica is ginormous and every nook and cranny is filled with something more amazing than the nook and/or cranny you just passed. We visited the tombs of the popes and (of course) climbed to the top of the dome. We cheated a little (per my request) and we took the elevator up to skip 200 of the 551 steps. I was able to get a rosary for my mom and get it blessed in St. Peter's (by a German priest I chased down and who originally thought I was trying to sell him the rosary), so that was exciting.

After that (and taking a few pictures of the Swiss Guard and their wonderful outfits), we began our treck home, which we are still on. We stopped in Piazzo Nuovo and listened to a 4 man band, then watched a hand puppeteer (guy who puts gloves on that look like costumes and makes his hands dance to look like people dancing...odd). After this, we'll head off to dinner to celebrate the 4th of July with the Italians!

I can't believe we're leaving on Monday! The trip has flown by!

(P.S. Thankfully, there have been no pigeon incidents since the bombardment. I appreciate your prayers. They are helping keep me out of ... it...)

P.P.S. I forgot to mention that we went to see Sex and the City the other night. It was great, but before the movie started, I got stuck in the horrible bathroom stall. After a momentary freak out and Rebecca's help on the outside, I made it out. The movie theaters here still have an intermission, so right in the middle of the movie it stopped for a few minutes. Some people thought it was the end so they left. They must have been very disappointed.