Inn Laterano Deluxe Rome

... sf in the Vatican. The value of the Sistine Chapel? Money has no meaning. The last pope started a modern art gallery in 1973, in order to display a collection that was largely donated by artists over the past 2 centuries just to claim that they had paintings in the Vatican – Van Gogh, DeChirico, Feininger, Kandinsky, Bottero, Severini – 30 rooms of art, an afterthought in Vatican terms, but a world renowned billion ...

We arrived in Rome around 3:30 and made our way around the city. Because I've been here before, I’m less excited about it than everyone else. Again, the city is incredibly dirty, people and graffiti are everywhere, and there is a tremendous amount of pigeons.

Our tour manager took us around, giving us some ...

... loses it because Katy usually doesn't yell at people on the street, but she didn't want that umbrella. Well, from here, we realize we are a LONG way from the metro so we begin the long wet trudge. We see the end is near, but there is a very large, crazy Italian round about in frnt of us wit about 8 lanes of traffic. Now, you learn in Europe that you just go and don't worry about what the little green man says across from you. We have gotten very good at ...

... that was the taste) and roast pork (3 slices from a pre-packaged oven roast meal). And well, wasn't the waitress confused when we said 'very average' to the customary "how was your meal?". Wednesday 19th was the day we headed south. Looping around our hotel we headed via Repubblica-Teato dell'Opera (and lots of shops) to the coliseum. Getting inside took no time at all (touts for guided tours stated it ...

Wednesday 23May07 - All Roads Lead to Rome. If it's true that all roads lead to Rome then I suppose it was an eventuality that I should now find myself in Rome. A great deal of work has gone into this trip and I am looking forward to the adventures that lay ahead. It should be noted here that I am grateful for all those who have helped Rob Coyle and I pull this journey ...

... I ended up going out anyway with different people and had a blast! I am not doing anything today because my foot is swollen and I am going to nurse it and be ready for a jam up day tomorrow at the Vatican! It is soooo HOT here, the country is going through a heat wave, it seems they all are. I hope you all are doing well and I love you. Please say a prayer for my cousin Jake, he was in a motorcycle accident and the prayers will help. Again I love and miss all of you...Ciao!

... walked the least today but I guess it is just all catching up with me. I've done more stairs in the last month than in all of 2005, I think. Where I was dogsitting, I was 3 stories above street level (4 above the laundry room). In London I was 4 above street level and 5 above the kitchen. Here I am "only" on the 3rd floor but the kitchen is on the 7th floor. I'll be spoiled at my next hostel, as both my room and the kitchen are on the 3rd level.

... wandered around Rome, always finding something new. It was Kate's birthday (one of my roommates) so we met up for lunch near the Spanish Steps, and relaxed. We got a cake for Kate that we ate before we went out to dinner, and then found a cute pizzeria near our apartment for Kate's birthday dinner. We really wanted to try this Mexican restaurant near our apartment, but apparently Mexican food is either really popular, or very sparse in Rome, so the wait was for ...

... stars. This restaurant was filled with black and white pictures of all the celebs that had eaten there. Matt and I agree that the steak we had was the best of our lives - nothing will compare! And nothing will compare to the prices either - a Glass of Coke worked out to be approx $60AUS

... piazza and church where Katherine Hepburn fell in the canal while filming (as part of the movie), but suffered from eye infections for decades later. It is also the church in Raiders of the Lost Arc, where Harrison Ford crawls through the cellar filled with snakes. There is also the chain of mask factories where the Cruises (Tom and Niclole) selected their masks for E.W.S., and where we later returned to buy one for Alison. We were pretty footsore, not to mention having arms ...