ROME is where the ♥ is

Rome is pretty much the coolest capital city anywhere. I hadn't remembered it that well because the last time I was there 6 years ago was such a whirlwind, but this time we made the most of it! The first day the weather wasn't terrific but we still managed to go to the Vatican, the Spanish Steps, and the Trevi Fountain. The Vatican was really inspiring, especially when we got to see the tomb of Pope John Paul II. By the time we made it to the Trevi Fountain, we were drenched and miserable and decided to eat at this cute little place that ended up having great service. We shared (quite) a bit of wine and it was a great night. I warmed up right away!

St. Peter's Basilica

One of our Popes

Spanish Steps in the rain

Romance at the Trevi Fountain
How cute are they?

The really sweet guys working at our restaurant

The next day was the day to end all days. We saw everything! We got to the Colosseum and were lucky enough to have this guy usher us over for a cheap tour of the place. He gave us tickets, we did the tour, and we were never asked for money! Not to mention, right after, we got to tag along with the same group to tour Palatine Hill and the Forum! It was great to have a tour guide instead of playing tour guide out of my Rick Steves book!

The Colosseum is SO cool. Rome is the place for me because I'm a much bigger fan of architecture-type art than I am of painting-type art, if that makes sense. Our tour guide had such a funny accent, and was constantly pointing and saying, "Deeese is original Roman wall. Dis is not." Over and over again. My brother made a point of doing that for almost everything we saw from then on out. "Deeese is original Roman bus. Dis is not." It was hilarious. Here's just a few of the amazing photos from the Colosseum:

More family embarrassment :)

Our costly photo op
I think it was worth it though.
Except that he tried to kiss me.

The forum blew my mind. I hadn't really remembered it at all, and I think it was the most striking thing we saw on this trip. Absolutely gorgeous:

Afterwards we headed to the San Sebastiano Catacombs which were cool, but maybe not worth the headache we went through to get back into town! Once back, thanks to a taxi, we went to the Campo dei Fiori and followed a few monuments (Piazza Navona, the Pantheon) on our way back to the Trevi Fountain, where we had found a Calabrese restaraunt we wanted to eat dinner at. The Pantheon was extremely neat, I hadn't even known what it was before going to it. It's a beautiful church with an oculus where Rafael, the artist, is buried, along with the first two kings of Italy. Plus it looks like this:

Then we went to that Calabrian restaurant. Since my roommates are Calabrian and that's where I spent Christmas, I was excited to share a little of that culture with the fam. The antipasto plate was to die for. My mom said it was some of the best food she's ever tasted, and she's had some pretty good food!

The next morning we headed to Florence on the way back to Bologna. We only had time for lunch, the Duomo, and some market shopping. My mom and I stocked up on Tuscan pottery, it was great. Here's Daniel on the train:

Us at Trattoria Anita

Multi-themed Davids

Ponte Vecchio

On the way home our train didn't make it very far before it was stopped for an hour because of some sort of accident on the tracks. Eventually we made it though, and spent the evening packing, eating, and willing the hours not to pass! Early, early this morning they were off to make the journey to San Francisco via London. I miss them already, but we had such a spectacular trip that I couldn't have asked for more.