When in Rome...

DO AS THE ROMANS DO!

Rome is such a great city. It is an interesting combination of old and new. Val and I spent two days here (the second of which has been raining) and we've decided to head to Cinque Terra for tonight then Venice for the following day. After Venice we're going to Munich to meet up with Megan and we'll be staying with Benjamin. He is Val's old roommate's cousin who we met a few months ago when he was in the States. He will show us a good time. It's always nice to have a local around to show you the ins and outs of the city.

Back to Rome:
We got here Friday night after a long day of traveling. Our flight was delayed in Madrid, and then it took us about 45 minutes to get our luggage once we got to the airport. Ironically, we were one of two flights at the airport and it still took forever to get our bags.

A shuttle from our hostel/campsite picked us up at the airport. The driver didn't speak English so we had no idea that we would be crossing town to the DaVinci airport to pick up more people before heading "home". The entire travel process took about 8 hours, which is much too long by my standards.

When we arrived at the hostel we were really upset. The campsite was sooooo far out of the City. Or at least it seemed that way because it took us about 3 hours to get there! Plus, we hadn't so much as eaten a meal the entire day... just snacks.

The next morning Val got up early and went to the Vatican. I slept in and did our laundry and caught a later train into Rome. I walked around by myself, and was pleasantly impressed by my navigation skills. Val's usually the keeper of the map, and I am the tour guide. It was nice to know I could do double duty if needed. I threw a coin into the Trevi Fountain, ensuring a future trip to Rome, sat on the Spanish steps watching all of the tourists, and then hopped on the metro and took it to Termini, the central station, where Val and I met up and did some more site seeing.

We visited the Pantheon and ate a fabulous dinner at a cafe near there. Then we had some amazing gelato (my second for the day) which wasa scoop of banana split and a scoop of coconut. We walked around some more and then headed back to the train station, which was closed, and then had to find our way back to the other train station that we needed. That was annoying but we made it back in time to catch the last train to the hostel.

Yesterday we bought tickets to go to Venice, but over dinner we decided we wanted to go to Cinque Terra instead. So, we changed the tickets today and booked a hostel and decided Venice can wait, it won't sink overnight.

I think our last stop in Rome will be to the Missoni store. I really really really want a Missoni shirt (sport line not the really high end line). They're so pretty. However, I have yet to look at a price tag, so I might just go to the store to browse.

Ciao Bellas!