Globtrotters Gulliver's House Rome

... drivers though... to maneuver through these busy streets. We are now resting before heading out again for a little free stroll and then dinner. Perhaps well stay in our neighborhood again for dinner - all of the restaurants seem delicious! We did stay in our neighborhood... we checked out a pizzeria on a busy street called Ai Marmi. It was CROWDED but worth the long wait. Getting a table here is a really confusing mess but it all works out ...

... Locker where he picked up a pair of basketball shorts and we took another cab back to the hotel. This hotel is awesome, but since it's at the top of the hill in Rome there is no public transportation. We're going to be spending some dollar bills getting to and from here. We booked two full body massages in the hotel spa. John's back has been hurting him, no wonder he's carrying 45 lbs of back packs, and I was hoping they could ...

... Piazza Navone. We got there at around 7:30 PM, only to find a huge line outside of the restaurant!!! We almost gave up, but I am so glad that we stuck it out. I found out that you have to be quite "aggressive" in Italy when you are in line. The bottom line is that Italians don't seem to have any qualms about cutting in line, and about elbowing each other whilst waiting. Everytime the door opened and the waiter stuck his head out, people would try to jostle ...

... and I purchased some wine, including two small bottles of Santa Cristina even though only one made it out of the store because George dropped it and busted it all of the floor. I flipped out at first because I thought it was the very expensive Brunello we had just we had also bought, which I will not disclose the price. We took a train back yesterday morning, Monday, at about 6am. I went to class and carried on as the during the week as usual, as the Romans do ...

I slept in today - I haven't been doing enough of that this trip. Had a rare treat - an F1 race! I was lucky, as it was the Chinese Grand Prix and so was on early in the morning - otherwise, I would have missed it. I am in no rush today - not much is open on Sundays. I managed to exchange a book for a Lonely Planet Europe guide - score!!! Then I noticed that some parts of the Paris and Switzerland sections that I needed were ripped out, and that it was a fairly old edition. Old ...

... s - a - spicy - a - meatball!") We piled in to "Luigies" euro van, (I don't think the man could have fit a peanut more in to the back of this vehicle) with four other foreigners and an Italian. What was to follow would be referred to as the "Ride of Death" for the next few days to come. We pulled on to the freeway. Italians don't drive like Canadians, Italians don't drive like normal people drive. I would believe it safe to say.... Italians don't drive like ...

... better than any tour guide, even providing drives through the red light district! New Year was fantastic, having a lovely meal in Valentina's Mum's gorgeous appartment, looking down at the honking cars, fireworks and chaos down below. Vicki and I were most satisfied in our hunt for 'Italian Stalians.' Rome is beautiful! Getting a lift ...

... the door and killed the half an hour. Once inside, it was really something. We entered from the ground floor, below the huge marble staircase (obligatory). Now I assume that they would have entered via this staircase, and therefore, would then have used the internal staircase to go downstairs. Here at the front, was a "sitting room" around 10 metres square. Fairly subdued decor as it turned out, compared with the rest of the villa. This then led into a theatre. Curtained ...