Monday 9 July 2007

Rome--Day 3--Epic

After we had another delicious breakfast, we took the short walk to the subway station and headed for the Colosseum. It was especially nice that the tube took us right to entrance of the Colosseum. Andrea did a good job muscling her way up in the line and was able to help us avoid the queue (that means line to you). The inside was beautiful. It was a little saddening to see that the church has put its mark on everything. Right as you enter, a large cross blocks the view. Somehow, I am guessing that isn't authentic. Anyway, as we were standing there taking it all in, we over heard two teenage American girls trying to describe the sites in their best valley girl voices. They were using words like epic, tight, and dope. It was hilarious. Michael pointed out that they should have called it colossal. We got a good laugh for the rest of the trip out of it. Now you can see why the title of my blog is the way it is.

After the Colosseum, we head out for the ruins of ancient Rome. It was a heck of walk with cobblestones, dirt, and tons of hills. Apparently, grading wasn't popular! There was the neat palace that I wanted to go into. You had to walk several stairs to even walk the line. We had some communications issues about waiting in the queue, but the queue never moved anyway. We gave up on seeing the inside. We ended up looking at all the things that there were to see. It was mind boggling to know that you were walking in the same steps that Julius Caesar took. Andrea ended up getting pretty low blood sugar and we found the quickest little shop to eat at. None of us were particularly thrilled with the food and the coke cost us 4 euro, that is $6. After the much needed carbs and sugar, we were able to go again.

On our way home, we stopped by the tomb of the unknown solider. It was my own little slice of heaven. Of all the many fountains of Rome, this was the first one that I was able to put my feet in. It was ice cold. I think that you could have dropped in an ice cube and let it float a while. It numbed my feet and was such a relief after walking all those miles. We continued on, taking the scenic route, to the tube. It put us out just steps from the Spanish Steps. I hurried down to a McDonalds, one of the only places you can be sure will have a free public bathroom. Pregnant ladies learn these quite quickly! Back at the Spanish Steps, I put my feet into another fountain. The first spot I stepped was wet and I almost slipped on my ass. Luckily, I avoided that embarrassment, for the day. I had no sooner gotten my feet out when a police man came by yelling at people to get out of the fountain. Phew!

We then stopped and enjoyed some delicious Italian ice cream, gelato. It was a good sugar rush and made it so that we could take a nice break before dinner. We got to the restaurant, which was only about 20 steps from our hotels front door, at about 7:00. They informed us that we could sit down, but that they didn't start serving dinner until 7:30. Everyone had wonderful food again. It seems to be the Italian way of life. :) I finished the night off by talking to Nick so that I could sleep in the morning! Woohoo!

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