Royal Santina Rome

... caught my train. I got a window
seat and was able to view Italy's great landscape. The trains in Italy
all require reservations which cost 10 euro however they are much more
roomy and comfortable. They also had a power plug so I could charge my
ipod. The train stopped at Bologna, Florence and then Rome. I got in
around 4pm and headed straight for the hostel. The hostel was only a
five minute ...

... like to follow the rules.

The Colosseum is ridiculous. So much to see and it's still so much intact that you can imagine the gladiators and patrons enjoying their entertainment. We learned that the Colosseum was used for several purposes throughout history...martyrs were killed on the center floor in front of the public - ripped in half by animals, gladiators hunted exotic animals then fed criminals to the animals who weren't killed, and intermissions featured jesters who ...

... are tucked into almost every corner. (Any corner not occupied by history has been snatched by the luxury stores of Armani, Ferragamo, Gucci, or any number of other Italian designers). Rome shares cobbled narrow streets with Florence and many other European cities. Unlike Florence and Sevilla, which are cities in which every destination seems to be reachable if one is wanders in the general direction, it is impossible to wander anywhere in Rome. It is so ...

Hello! We are blogging from a lovely outdoor cafe in Roma in the early evening of our second day here. Our first day was a whirlwind of plane delays, jet lag, sightseeing, and several failed attempts at finding a working espresso machine in a cafe! Even given that, we had a glorious first day of seeing the sights, walking endlessly around Roma, and deciding where to eat. Today, Wednesday, we hiked to the top of Piazza Garibaldi for great vies of Rome, and to surprise Claudia by ...

... train and train to get back to Naples to catch the flight to Berlin, but I got to go back to Rome for a night! Lucky me! I was fortunate enough to sit next to Dr. Aiken, a Professor of Archeology in Amsterdam, who was taking a break from excavating in Pompeii to visit a friend outside of Naples. I bombarded him with questions and he gave me the low-down on the geologic makeup of the land from Pompeii to Naples. He also ...

... with a midday beachside meal, a swim in the Med, an afternoon shorter-length hike, a second dip into the sea followed by laying out on the rocks to take in the afternoon heat and...you have a pretty full day! An evening meal and glass of wine harborside or up on a hill overlooking town...a starry night with waves gently lapping on shore...and...pretty much a perfect day in Italy! Two days and nights in Cinque Terre was followed by a lazy morning and a midday hop aboard train ...