When in Rome...Magee!

We're at Trevi but I don't know why its so bright
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Steph and I got up waaaay too early to catch a flight off 2 hours sleep. It was brutal!! But we made it! Upon arrival we wandered around the train station area (Termini) in Rome and checked out the museum. Nothing too interesting to report on the first day. We went to the National Roman Museum or Museo Nazionale Romano in Italian which had less pottery (thank goodness) and lots of sculptures. It was kind of cool that we did Greece first cuz you could see the differences in the Greek and Roman art. The Roman art was a little more advanced and detailed since it was newer. We think a nun got mad at us cuz Steph was wearing shorts and I was wearing a tank top. She wasn't yelling but did the mom lecturing thing. They are pretty strict here about that kind of stuff, those nuns. First night was tame since we were super tired. We went for the nastiest free pizza party ever at our hostel which Steph had to fight loads of poor hostellers for. The pizza consisted of some crust with a tiny bit of tomato sauce and a couple shreds of cheese. We also met a new friend from Vancouver that night named Ken who had somewhat the same schedule as us.

Gelato is less fattening cuz it is made with milk!
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On the 2^nd day, we split off for the morning and Steph went to the Vatican, Sistene Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica with Ken and I wandered around the Jewish Ghetto. I had already been to the Vatican in 2002 and didn’t really care to see it again but it is something you have to see in Rome so Steph had to go. The Jewish Ghetto was cool although I got lost a couple times but got to see some old ruins and the old Synagogue. We met at the Spanish Steps which were crowded and not that great, checked out Trevi Fountain (and threw the coins in), visited the Parthenon (the largest free standing dome) and Piazza Navona(a huge square with fountains and cool architecture). They were all free and that is always a good thing. We found some really good pizza and some gelato as well (pistachio is one of my favorites).

Steph loves Rick and I love his food recommendations

Jewish Ghetto
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That night got out of hand because we went on a pub crawl with Rome'ing Tours and had a blast. We had to explain to everyone that a pub crawl involves yellow school buses but people just didn't understand. I think pub crawls with the yellow school buses must be a Calgary thing. This was more of a pub walk. The first hour consisted of free drinks which were mostly vodka with a splash of 7-Up and hard to take down. Anyway we went to 3 bars (including an Irish pub and some place we didn’t even go in cuz it was too hot but I think I did a shot of vodka with this guy we named Skydiver-bad idea, ugh). We dragged Ken along (actually he begged us to come along) he was very amusing to watch because after a couple drinks (and I mean 2) he became loud, spilly-talker and we had to bust out the “LOUD NOISES! Why are we yelling?” again. There was a girl on the pub crawl who dressed kind of slutty so we kept calling her Tits Magee. This American, Jake, we met that night overhead us and thought that was what Canadians said instead of “Cheers” so we would clink glasses with him and say “Magee!” because he was so dumb.

Jewish Ghetto
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On our last day in Rome, we endured some major heat. We were wusses and ended up sightseeing while running for any shade (kind of like my dad on a bicycle pedaling to a bench :) ). We saw the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, Roman Forum all at once. I’ve seen all this stuff before although the Colosseum was just amazing again. It would have been interesting to watch the matches in the old days where they threw people and animals in there at the same time and watched them fight. Palatine and Roman Forum are OK but nothing special. Later that day, we had the best time on this gynormous bicycle at Villa Borghese, a big green park in Rome. The bike was like one of those bikes at Centre Island in Toronto that fit 2 people side by side and you steer with a steering wheel. We also were smart and got the semi-motorized one so once you start pedaling the motor assists you so we were going pretty fast down the hill and became Masters of the Brake. There were some poor suckers going back up the hill on the manual bike who had to get out and push! Bahaha!

Steph at the Vatican
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That night I had the best lobster linguine ever by a place recommended by Steph’s guidebook (Rick Steves). Rick was very good at recommending food places and was creepy when you saw all these tourists at the same places as you are with their Rick books. We always want to just order the pasta course, but somehow end up getting 2^nd courses too after looking at the menu! Steph had the seafood pasta and a 2^nd of mussels and I had lemon veal with my lobster linguine. Steph loves Rick  and I love his food recommendations.