Roman Holiday...albeit with a little less grace than Audrey Hepurn did it.

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Rori and I spent the weekend in Rome...or, to be more exact, I should probably say we spent about 47 hours walking around and around the Colosseum lost and confused...and about one hour seeing the other sites in Rome.  On Friday, Rori went ahead to Rome to visit Vatican City, while I stayed in Florence to attend a lunch/program with my class mates.  Three or four (or possibly five) glasses of Chianti later, I stumbled onto a train to Rome and headed to join her.  I was a little afraid that I would immediately pass out on the train and wake up somewhere south of Sicily, but I somehow successfully de-boarded in Rome.  And Rome was amazing.  We crammed it all in...the Colosseum, the Forum, Palatine Hill, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Mouth of Truth, Mamertine Prison, and countless other sites.  The Forum and Colosseum were incredible, and I was completely awed by seeing the prison where Peter and Paul were imprisoned, as well as the column to which Peter was chained while there.  Amazing.  Rome completely shames US history...

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We also did our share of eating and drinking. As you might guess, when Rori and I combine forces, our experiences never go as smoothly as one would plan. For lunch one day, we stopped at one of Rome's many street-side cafes. I muttered my usual pidgen Italian asking for a table for two. I thought I had done a rather good job, and was expecting the waiter would just show us to a table - i.e., the normal reaction when one asks for a table.  But that would've been too easy.  Rather, this waiter - instead of showing us to a table - walked over to us, and, without saying a word, slowly lifted his hands up and cupped my face.  And so it went for about 15 seconds...the waiter standing there - silently cupping my face - and me, silently staring back at him wondering what the hell was going on. I would've been more concerned but within moments, he turned and did the same thing to Rori.  Awkward, yes, but that's Rome...and I guess we should've been thankful he didn't cup anywhere even more uncomfortable. So we decided to stay for lunch, which was actually delicious.

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You would think nothing could top the awkward face-cupping moment, and so did I, until Rori fell out of her chair...while seated. It was amazing. She leaned over to grab something out of her purse and just bit it. It was hilarious...I mean, it was awful. Just awful. She upended the other chair and the table, and I believe, frightened the group of Swedes sitting behind us. In her defense, we were sitting outside and her chair leg had somehow fallen into a hole, causing her to fall over...but it was still hilarious.

In the end though, Rori and I managed to survive Rome and make it back in one piece to Florence. I really do love Rome, but it was so nice to be back in cozy and (by comparison) tranquil Florence. The differences between the two cities are huge. Rome is sprawling and verges on almost overwelming, whereas everything in Florence is within 15 minutes walking distance. And Florentines are somewhat reserved - or at least they appear to be so when compared to the Romans. I swear Roman men would whistle and catcall after even Phyllis Diller in tights. :-)