Rome

Hang in there, this is going to be a long one!

We arrived here early afternoon, found our Hostel in the Ghetto of Rome and spent the afternoon walking around the city. Its not everyday you can say, "we took a stroll past the Colleseum today."

Day 1
We walked for 10 hours today, 10! We started in the ---- Gardens, walking aimlessly becasue our limited knowledge held us back from really understanding what ruiens we were looking at exactly. So, we made our way to the sea of people surrounding the Colleseum, found a tour and hoped on. Our tour guide was a cookey Italian lady who must have been on some kind of drug and couldnt stop hitting on these three American teens, creepy but entertaining for us! The Colleseum is huge! Built in 80AD, its guessed about 1 million Gladiators and 3 million animal died there. Crazy! We then took a lunch break where I saw an olde high school friend, Josh Robles, randomly walking down the street, small world. We picked up another tour and learned all about the ancient city forums, Capitol Hill, and the Monument build 100 years ago to signify triumph and a unified Italy. We then walked to Pantheon and then took a small rest at the Spanish Steps. Too much for one day! Overload! We ended the day eating dinner in an artsy Piazza with a sunset walk home past the Colleseum.

Day 2
The Vatican!!!! Its Wednesday so we went a little later than we had originally planned and heard the Pope speak! It was really neat becasue we were at one point within 3 feet of him as he passed the crowds on his way to the stage area. We then took a guided tour with an American genious pretty much. Man, was this guy a character! He was shorter and skinny, thick glasses and so many corks i cant even begin to describe then. We had a blast learning everything about the Vatican, St. Peters Bascillica, and the Sisten Chapel. By the end we had spend about 5 hours here. Gelato and a rest in the park helped end the afternoon. We then walked toward the Colleseum and ate at a resturant overlooking the Colleseum, really cool.

Day 3
Day trip today!! We love Rome, but we decided to use this last day to take a train to the Umbria area. We decided on Perguia, which is known for thier chocolate and scenic views. We arrived in this small city and hiked 2 hours without reaching the Centro. We found a mess of elevators that seemed to be the only way up from where we had walked. The top was breathtaking. It overlooks the hills of the countryside and seems to go on forever. We sat on benches in a park that overlooked this view for a little over 2 hours. Lazy bums, huh? Happy lazy bums thats for sure. So we then explored the chocolate shops and pastry stores. It was a great break from the big busy city. Onto to Siena tommorrow.