Roma!

Well here Jacob and I are, sitting in the hotel lobby in ROME! It is 10:15 and we are going to post some pictures really quickly before it is time to crash so we will be able to get up early to catch a train to Florence! Woo hoo!

We have spent the past day and a half here. We flew in on Monday afternoon, got our American dollars cashed for Euros and then caught a taxi to our hotel. We made a new friend at the front desk who spoke some English and suggested a good pizza place for dinner. Things happen much later here too, just like Spain. So if you go to a restaurant before 7:30-8 and people are there, it is not a good sign. How crazy is that? So we caught another taxi to our pizzaria and made it there safely. It really is quite comical that we thought we might rent a little smart car here and cruise around...we would have crashed within the first 2 minutes. Let's just say...Jesus take the wheel. The drivers here are nuts. Disregard any sort of traffic sign, lane, speed limit...and here you have it, Italian driving! It was a fun, Roman, adventurous first night here.

We had to get some good rest for our big day touring today. However, Mom woke up this morning in a desperate search for some espresso (they drink straight espresso here instead of coffee..yikes) and saying that she was extra tired due to the fact that she woke up at 4am because I was"going to town speaking Spanish" in my sleep. She woke me up to ask who I was talking to and I told her the taxi driver. Sorry about that Mom. We found the espresso though, so no worries. Lorenzo, our tour guide picked us up in the hotel lobby at 9am. He was unbelievable. People, the man knows everything there is to know about Rome. You could ask him the year any building was created, by whom, out of what material, pretty much anything, and he would tell you in a heartbeat. He was so nice and friendly and studied art history, philosophy, and archeology here in a Roman University. He laughed sooooo hard when he heard that Jacob drove a truck. He said he could fit his smart car in the bed of the truck and literally thought it was the funniest thing ever. So we toured Rome by foot for 8 hours today and hit all of the hot spots. Here are just some of the things we got to experience: The Colosseum, Roman Forum, Pantheon, Constantine's Triumph Arch, Spanish Steps, Trevy Fountain, St. Peter's Bascilia and Courtyard, The Vatican Museum and City, Sistine Chapel, Ancient Roman ruins and Aquaducts. Some of these things were over 2,000 years old which is unreal and so beautiful. We got to stop at Lorenzo's favorite Gelato shop and café shop in the afternoon...so much fun! After Lorenzo left us after the tour, we roamed around the city some more in search for a restaurant he suggested. After following Mom for who knows how long (she said she was "just having a feeling that it was just around the corner" before we walked what felt like 15 miles) we finally reached our destination with the help of about 20 locals with differing directions. It was well worth it though, we had the best lasanga ever. It was not like American lasanga..it had really thin layers of pasta (22 layers!) and was just awesome. The tour was such a great idea since we got to get all of the good, detailed history (with some secrets from Lorenzo)!

Time for bed, we are all worn out and Mom is propping her feet up because she has told us about 12 times that she has got some serious "cankles" hahaha. As you can imagine, we are having the time of our lives!! Yippie, off to Florence in the morning!!!!! Ciao!!

The Colosseum

Roman Forum

Everyone drives scooters and motorcycles here

Our friend, Lorenzo!!

The Emperor's Palace 

Inside the Coliseum

Triumph arch

tossing pennies in the Trevy!

Reading the "journali"

Our restaurant--first Italian pizza

My handsome, precious boy

My girl

Pantheon

St. Peter's Basilica

Garden outside the Vatican

Yum! Gelato piled high