Day 12: Rome

Rome is hot! Not as hot as North Carolina I understand, but hot!

I personally need to recover emotionally from last night's devastating loss, and I think since we got here earlier we have been able to see more, so we slept in, got a late breakfast and headed out about 11:30. We walked up to the Republicca like we did yesterday and boarded the bus to go to the Trevi Fountains. We decided on the way that right after we saw the fountains we would find a cheap lunch and rest for a bit. However, the bus was stopping at a few different places because of the Sunday traffic changes they have every week. So instead of getting off near the fountains we got of near Plaza Barberini and started the trek down the hill to the fountains. We passed by a cute little restaurant called "Il Fontanella" with pizza for like 6 Euros and decided to go in and eat first. Laura ordered a Magherita pizza and I ordered one with Proscuitto. They were fresh out of the wood-fire oven, we could tell because of the blackened crust edges, and smelled wonderful.We munched on our pizza, watched the entertainment of a good server-customer argument that seemed to be a basic misunderstanding, and hydrated ourselves with two big bottles of water. We paid left and headed out ... in the wrong direction.

We walked for a little bit and ended up at the top of the Spanish Steps where we had been the previous day, but managed to get a few better pictures this time from the top. We mapped out our way to the fountains and set out ... in the right direction. When we arrived of the Trevi Fountains it was packed with tourists looking to have their picture taken just like us, so it was easy to find a couple that was willing to trade off taking pictures with us (This has been true of most of the places in Rome). If you have never seen these fountains they are quite remarkable. They portray Neptune, the Roman God of the Sea, and his two sons. One struggling to tame a SeaHorse (not the seahorse you are thinking of) and the other son having tamed a SeaHorse. It stands to show the two sides of the sea. When it is brash and tames you, and when it is calm and you tame it. We also witnessed a little kid being taken away from the fountain by his mom, and the kid was soaked and crying. We assume he fell in which makes me sad I missed it. Laura and I had a good chuckle at this. After the fountains we walked through the streets for a bit, not having down much of this because we have been riding the bus. We eventually wound our way to the Colosuem to jump on the bus to go Lucifer's Hideout a.k.a. Vatican City.

Did I mention it was hot? Laura and I consumed a good 3 liters of water today from lunch until we arrived at St. Peter's. When we did arrive we got off the bus and walked up the street a bit to the Mecca of Catholicism. We walked around a bit and took pictures, but decided to not go in. More because of the line than my unwillingness to give the Catholic Church my money. WARNING - Personal Political Statement - WARNING: The Pope is a moron and I wholeheartedly agree with Belgium's search of the Catholic HQ in Belgium. Anyways, because we had sweated off all the water we had consumed over the day we decided to head back to the hotel (it was about 5:00pm by this time).

We got back to the hotel and got cleaned up and rested. There was another restaurant in the area that had been recommended to us so we headed out for it around 6:30. We walked up the street for a bit and arrived at its location, but it was closed because it was Sunday and as Laura put it "We know which restaurant owners are God-Fearing Catholics". We walked down a different street in search of another restaurant. We didn't walk far before we found a quite restaurant called "Andrea". They were open and the waiters seated us outside, which was nice because the hot day had turned into a very comfortable evening. We scoured the menu and I settled on Lasagna (apparently Laura and I are on a search for Europe's best Lasagna) and Laura settled on Ravioli. They were both very good, but not quite filling. So what else would we do in this situation ... we ordered dessert. "Two tiramisus please". Now we're talking. This was classic tiramisu with ladyfingers soaked in coffee and layered. It was Delicious with a capital D! I even finished up Laura's for her. We decided not to stick around too long after because some "Smoking Floozies" (Quoted from Laura) came and sat at the table behind us. Enough with the smoking already! We walked the short walk back to the hotel and settled in for a little Sudoku and Soccer!

-Kyle

Lessons Learned Today:

1. When you travel, bring a wife who brings sunscreen. (this is for mormons who have multiple wives, the rest of us have only one choice)

2. Italians are very confrontational, it's like watching a soap opera in a different language.

3. Laura and I have so many more places we want to go in the world! Who's coming with?