Chez Liviana Rome

... Renaissance, Papal collections, Cardinal collections, Family Collections, Modern, Contemporary, Pasta, Archaeological, Catacombs, and Literary. About 40 major museums, not counting …

the Vatican Museums – acquisitions and commissions enabled by indescribable, sustained wealth and power. Nothing else like it, beyond financial measure. 6 square foot Raphael paintings sell for $50 million. He painted something like 6 ...

... but cost extra which can really add up when there are 4 of you. The Forum is huge and you could spend a long time there.

We went into the Colosseum which really is fantastic and a highlight of Rome. There was an exhibition of some of the things that had been excavated from the Colosseum and I'm always interested in the quirky things like the grape seeds along with nectarine seeds and cockle shells that they found in the gutters, thrown there by the ...

... a problem with the concept of lines and personal space. (I would have thought that my fully functioning sweat glands and my incessant humming of Muppet and Beatles songs would have fixed this problem but not so much) -I forgot how much I love gelato. -Italian keyboards are ridiculous. Last night I went out to another hostel with my roommates and tonight we are planning to do the same. I've had such a good time meeting new people (well, other than that little bump in Crete ...

... may not have enjoyed it so much...) It even only cost a euro to get in. I will post some pictures that I took before I got busted. Oh, and the final saying in the crypt was, "We were once you, and you will become us." CREEPY (says Michelle) We then went to a park, where Andre and I buried Diane in autumn leaves. Literally. See the picture. It was really fun- definitely one of the best moments of the day. Diane ended up having a bug in her bra the ...

... further you get out of Rome the less English is spoken and menus don't come in an English version. We did a lot of pointing and I developed this new linguistic technique that obviously must believe that the louder and slower you speak English, the easier it is for the non English person to understand. Just in case you missed that, I did not get what I thought I ordered so there is still some work to be done on this style of translation.

... very nice. We just stopped by and took over their church! There was an impromptu concert that they must have thought was sent from GOD!!!! We laughed about this all evening. There were 300 middle school students who were very nice and respectful. Only 2 people seemed to speak English although many were trying their English out on us. They enjoyed the music and continued to ask for "more songs". The boys were given a pin to ...

... real Italian leather and how to mold into boxes and whatnots. We also learn about how to tell the difference between fakes and real leathers. It took her about 30 to 45 minutes to get through all this. Then of course we are invited to "purchase" all the leather available in the shop. I pick up a leather card holder. Our TM, tour manager, tells me that there are a few who went looking for a park to nap at. I quickly chase and catch up to them. We take in some of the ...

... they even used a little childs skeleton, pinned it to the roof, and using other people bones made it a sickle- transforming it into the grim reaper! other bone sets had little monk outfits on and were standing to attention, ready to creep out any uninformed tourist... so weird! main event no.2. the train trip- after boarding our overnight train to paris, we met up with 2 of the 3 others sharing our ...

... seems to be settling and getting used to the fact that the people we are with now are the same people we are going to be with for the next few weeks. I had heard a lot about mugging in Italy before my trip, especially about small children trying to pick pocket. So now ironically I am more aware and ready to fight 3 year olds than the older gentleman we see throughout our walks. Fortunately, I have not lost anything yet...well, unless you consider the fact that I ...

... than Rodeo Drive. Enthralled by the fabulous jewellery, the well-turned heel of an Italian leather shoe and the wispy haze of a Roman negligee, I insisted that Margaret look at every shop in the street. In the evening we walked the streets in search of a trattoria we had admired the previous night. It had vanished and we finally settled on a ristoranti which is one step up from a trattoria. When the time came to pay the bill I silently practised my Italian. As a waiter ...