Rome

A short drive from Florence took us into Rome, home of the Pantheon and Vatican city. Our first stop was the Vatican city (which is actually a country! Well now you know). When we arrived at the Vatican, we were a bit disconcerted, as the lineup was enormous and seemed neverending. But luckily, once we got into the line, we realized that it was moving rather quickly. Once we bought tickets to get into the Vatican, we walked around the Vatican Museum, soaking in all the beautiful artwork that lined the walls of the museum. As we snaked our way through the corridors, there were signs telling us the direction of the Sistine Chapel. Excitedly, we picked up our pace in anticipation of seeing the famed ceiling. Finally, we reached the entrance to the chapel, and when I looked up, I saw the most magnificent painting I had ever seen in my life. It was exactly like the way you see it in textbooks and posters. Man doing ET finger thing to God and all!

Our next activity was to go on a walking tour of Rome, so we rushed to meet up with the rest of the group and our tour guide a few minutes away. I have to mention, though, that by this time, the temperature had risen to about 40 degrees, and my shirt had been thoroughly soaked through with sweat. Yes, I was quite attractive that day. The walking tour took us around the ruins of Rome and the tour guide meticulously explained the symbolism and significance of each pillar, each arch, and each pile of rubble we passed by. Our last stop was the Colosseum, where we all sat down in the shade. Ah, the shade. How lovely. So lovely that I began to doze off, as the tour guide kept talking. My nap was suddenly broken when I heard her say, " Well, it looks like you guys are tired. Let's end the tour here." I embarrassingly admitted to Joan that she was probably referring to me, when Joan and another member of our group admitted that they had also fallen asleep. I didn't feel so bad afterwards. Hehe.

Joan and I had bought tickets to enter the Colosseum, so we got in line and quickly made it inside. Whoever named the Colosseum hit the nail right on the head. It was colossal! But other than its size, the Colosseum was a bit of a bore, so Joan and I decided to leave after a few minutes to explore more of Rome.

Joan and I had a shopping itch, so we decided to head to the shopping district of Rome. The shopping district in Rome was very much a high class one, as each store was filled with top of the line, designer clothing. As we walked along, we picked which stores we wouldn't feel too self conscious about walking our sweaty bodies into. I'll tell you right now, there weren't a lot. In the end, however, Joan managed to find a lovely purse for her mom and effectively crossed off one more item off her 'to buy' list.

After our shopping excursion, we decided to call it a day, as we were exhausted, tired, and in desperate need of showers. We hopped onto the train heading toward our campsite and breathed a sigh of relief when we realized the trains in Italy are air conditioned. As I normally do, I fell asleep on the train, but was suddenly awoken by Joan nudging me, saying " Trace, we missed our stop! The train didn't stop! It's still going!" By this point, I was wide awake, pumping my fist and cursing the train for not stopping, as if it was its fault. Joan and I watched as the train kept passing stop after stop after stop. We asked a fellow passanger where the next stop was, and he pointed to the end of the line on our train map. Ah crap. Well, we kept going on the train, entering what I can only presume was the Italian countryside, as we passed acres and acres of farming land peppered with sheep, cows, and bales of hay. Fantastic. Finally, we got off at the last stop and were of course completely disoriented. After asking the stranger at the magazine stand, we finally hopped back onto the correct train, and eventually made it back to the train station nearest our campsite. Boy, who knew that navigating a foreign city would be this hard?

Tracie