Hotel Nicholas 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 ...

... was ok, but would have been much better if our AC worked better. It dribbled out semi-cool air. However, the three stars come from its location. It was perfectly situated on Via Nazionale, which is a main artery of Rome. Not only were all of the major sites, multiple small roadside restaurants, and Gelaterias within walking distance, there were three buses that had stops along the road.

The Colosseo was ...

... the U.S. After checking in and dropping off our bags, we set out on the streets surrounding Rome´s main transportation hub, Termini Train Station. The area around the station is very dirty and there are many interesting if not shady characters mulling the streets in this part of town, but we did manage to find a couple of really good pizzerias. After sampling a slice or two from each place, we headed back to get some rest in anticipation of the full weekend of sightseeing ...

... at a loca restaurant-a three course meal that was pretty darn good. (And we were excited because it was AIR CONDITIONED!) We had time to swim, chill, and just lounge around this evening. Dinner was provided by the hotel, but they gave us extras if were really hungry, which most of the guys were. Exhausted from being up at 4 a.m. we headed to our room and crashed knowing we need to walk up a mountain (Mt. Etna) the next day.

... From there, we walked back towards our flat. Paul and I decided to split up - me going in search of fruit while he got calzones for lunch. Kyla and I passed at least three different pizzerias on our quest for fruit ... while Paul and Keegan passed several fruit stands on their quest for calzones. Successful at last, we all met back at the flat and had lunch. Since Marcella and the cleaner were in the flat - along with a man installing ...

... for, and happily I have been well placed. The family is delightful! Fabio is a fix-it guy with a lot of energy, and patience in speaking my broken Italian, his broken English. He's about 45, lived in Argentina a for years and also speaks Portuguese, is slightly pot bellied, warm hearted, and seriously trying to be helpful. His lovely wife is just as friendly. Their young daughter is beautiful, intelligent, studying guitar and the times tables, is ...

... more it struck home that the Vatican was a treasure horde. There were even dragons over the doors. I'm sure those were meant to symbolize something else, but the wealth accumulated became too much to take in. Rooms were positively crammed with marble statues or huge tapestries or ancient maps, to the point where you just couldn't absorb any more. I didn't take a single picture the entire time, mostly for that reason. I couldn't pick items that stood ...

We take the subway to St Peters for our audience with the Pope. We get there 15 minutes late and lose our chance for choice seats. We have to sit with the general audience but are still MUCH closer than we were to John Paul II in Toronto. They introduce every group in attendance by country and the ...

... night air then parted ways after grabbing a midnight pizza snack. I am surprised that I am losing wieght here in Rome despite all the pizza and gelati I am consuming. I supposed it may be due to the marathons that I seem to walk everyday. After that one horrible metro experience, I am determined not to go underground again in Rome or any other big city if at all possible. It's better to see the city above ground anyway. All in all, it was a long and eventful but very gratifying day.

... one of the main shopping streets, but the only thing we bought was a cup of coffee at a little café at the Piazza della Republica at the end. Adrian had been (nearly) pooped on by a pigeon at that same café. From there we just kind of wandered home. I think we found a little Internet place and spent some time there, but we did nothing else of note today. Dinner was a bowl of yummy vegetable ...