Thursday, December 27, 2007

Italia!!!!

Hello All and Greetings from Italia! I apologize for any typos but the Italian keyboard is a little different from the American one (it took me about a minute to find the @ sign!)

So we arrived safely in Rome on Thursday, December 27th and have been having a really wonderful time. When we first arrived the hostel we are staying at was not ready for us to check in so we decided to check out some sites. We first visited the Trevi Fountain, which personally is my fave place in the world, but it was being cleaned so it looked less than stellar. We then strolled over to the Pantheon and took our time exploring. I am sorry but I do not remember the Pantheon ever looking so beautiful (especially at night!) Rick Steves recommended some churches in the neighborhood so we went and visited two of them. One had a Michaelangelo statue and the other had a beautiful Carravaggio altar. We then stopped for some lunch (pizza and a coke light - love those!) Afterwards we headed back over to the Trevi Fountain and it was looking much better but still nothing like what it can look like at night.

We came back and checked in to our hostel and took a little nap (I was exhausted from not sleeping at all on the flight, the stories of that plane ride are for another post!) Our hostel is amazing - it is like a bed and breakfast in Rome. The guy Maxissimo, who runs it is so sweet.

After our nap we went and walked around the Coloseum and the Forum and then went to see St. Peter in Chains Church. I have to say while the church was not really that much to look at and it took us awhile to get there (we went "the long way") there is this statue of Moses that is incredibly powerful. And the chains that held St. Peter while he was in prison are in a case above the altar.

We decided to head over to the Spanish steps and people watch for a little bit. They look much more beautiful in spring with the flowers but decorated for Christmas they were not that bad either. From there we walked back towards the Pantheon for dinner. We went to this wine bar (I am not remembering the name right now) and had a half bottle with some bruchetta mixta which was delicious (and get this I ate things I did not know what they were!) Then we went to this mom and pop type Italian restaurant near the Pantheon for dinner. While not out of this world, it was hearty and good, which was all we were expecting.

After dinner we walked past the Trevi Fountain again:) This time all lit up at night it was in its glory and we sat and appreciated it for awhile before heading back to the hostel.

Today we had the BEST day exploring the Coloseum, Forum, Capitaline Hill, Palatine Hill etc but I will write about it later as it is late and I should head to bed to get ready for tomorrow!

Hope everyone had a very Happy Holidays!

1 comment:

meghan & dave said...

glad to hear you are having fun!! have a fabulous time,
megs
ps i want to hear about the plane trip... :)