When in Rome....

...Enjoy it!!

It's unfortunate that I haven't been able to post for a few days. Paying for internet by the hour sucks!!!

First, our last day in Florence. We checked out the Duomo and were impressed by how crazy big it was. We don't really build things like this anymore it seems. In general, Florence was really cool. I wish we had more time to check out all the museums there. We accidentally picked the worst two days to be there, Sunday and Monday. On Sunday, a lot of the church-type things are closed (museums also pick random sundays to close... such as one we wanted to see that was closed on the 3rd Sunday of each month!) and on Monday, most of the museums are closed. Oh well. I'll just have to go back some time.

Anyways, it's our last day in Rome. To sum it up: Rome was AMAZING. When it comes to sightseeing and cool ancient things, Rome has everyone beat hands down. Everywhere you go there is history. Yesterday we went to Vatican City and hung out with the Pope... errr... saw his museum and stuff. The museum included the Sistine Chapel... definitely a cool site. The paintings on the ceiling are a huge tourist attraction for a very good reason. They just don't make them like this anymore. The highlight of Vatican City however had to be St. Peter's Basilica. This is the biggest freaking Church/building I think I have ever been in. It's crazy huge. It was really cool to walk around in and really made you feel small. In general, the Catholic Church seems to be doing fine monetarily if one were to judge by the vastness and opulence of Vatican City.

Today we went to a bunch of Roman sites. We went to Palatine Hill, the Colliseum, the Forum, Capitol Hill, and the Pantheon, to name a few. I was awestruck almost the whole time. Every time I would look away and turn back, I was amazed. I took sooooo many pictures today. I was just so in awe. It's probably the grandeur of them mixed with how freaking old they are. Crazy. Even walking place to place, we'd see so many things.

So yes, Rome was amazing for its sites. We also snuck some good Italian food in there. Though one thing I'm realizing from being on the road so long is that I'm getting tired of people attempting to rip me off because I am a tourist. So many of the restaurants we look at have all these extra charges or crazy prices. For example, 0.5 Liters of water costing 4 Euro. I mean... come on! That's crazy! They also, for the most part treat you like crap. It's semi-understandable, but really... word of mouth about good places that don't treat you like crap could be good for business no? In Florence, we did find a great place however that broke this rule of treating you like crap. It was wonderful and I'd recommend it to anyone!

Our trip has 10 days left. I do admit that I'm starting to get tired of being on the road, travelling place to place, and most of all... twin beds! I just don't fit! :P But I'm also really enjoying each new place that we get to go to. They are all so different and all places I'm going to be happy to say that I have been. I have so much more that I feel I could write about everything, but I really am cramped for time, since I'm paying for it!

Tomorrow morning we fly to Barcelona. We'll be staying for 4 nights in a place right off La Rambla and then taking the night train to Paris.

Ciao!