Italia

Just got to Florence a few hours ago after a small delay with the trains. After scambling around the train station last evening frantically looking for our train and not seeing it listed anywhere, we finally discovered that their had been a train strike that day and the Florence train was not going to run. We would be dealyed until 230AM, so another 8 hours from when we were supposed to leave. Spent some time at the Yellow hostel with some fellow americans getting some pizza down the street,only to return to the statione and find it closed untill 430 AM, the train was not running at 230 afterall, but at 6 AM. We could not really stay the night anywhere at that point so we just lingered in the hostel bar, which was wide awake up till the time we left at 430 to get to the station, packed with mostly americans dancing to bad american music, if I did not know better Id say I was somehwere in Baltimore city, but a fun time anyway. So we finally made it onto the train that was running and arrived to Florence at 10 AM very tired. Sleep has been very minimal since I have been in Europe, but I am hoping to catch up these few days. I just took a 2 hour nap and feel quite refreshed. Ostello Archi Rossi is alot nicer that the Yellow in Rome, and includes internet in every room as well as free breakfast. Cool place.

Rome was an incredible time. Apart from the food which was out of this world, the sights were absolutley mind blowing to say the least. There is nothing like being in a city with such a long history. We started with the Vatican on Saturday, I have to say I was not really aware of the intensity of the Vatican Museaum, and its vastness. Incredible art and sculptures, archeticture is absurd, not to mention the Sistine Chapel. I kept thinking, woah they really out did themselves, as every hallway leading up to the Chapel makes your jaw drop even further. Really amazing to see all of it. It is almost too much to take in.

After the Vatican we were pretty starving, as we did not know the vatican would be a 2 hour affair. We headed to Campo de Fiori (where apparently Cesar was killed) which has some excellent open air markets and restaurants and sat down at La Carbonara. I had Pasta Arrabiata and a Prosciutto e Melone appetizer which was really really good. Finished that off with a gelato topped with strawberries. It is fun attempting to speak Italian and when a transacation is completed succesfully without too much error I feel very satisfied with myself. Just hearing the language all the time is really cool and makes me wish I would have retained more from college. We finished off saturday with a visit to the Trevi Fountain which was packed. There was even a marching band there. We were very tired and spent a good hour dozing off by the fountain,which is a pretty impressive work itself. Not to mention we passed the Pantheon on the way there.

Sunday we commenced with a trip to the Colloseum and then Palatine Hill. Both incredible to see. The romans really did some amazing work. Really cool to witness such monumental sights. After this I think i ate about 4 lunches while walking around Rome. Pizza Pizza Pizza. Geltati, Panini, all amazing. So apart from the train fiasco, everything went quite smoothly and I really enjoyed my time in Rome. There is really nothing like it. It has been really nice having Justin as a travel companion for this chunk of time. We are going to meet up later tonight and make some gnocchi at his place, which I am stoked for. I have to say my concept of time is totally out the window right now, eveything just melts into one at this point and it seems like I left home a long time ago, but it has only been days. I have certainly done alot in this time, and my body attests to that. But way more to be done,and it is time for me to grab a late luch out in Florence. Im sure I will find something that will be molto benne. Heres a few more pics, thanks to everyone checking this out. Ciao.