Back from Italy..

Finally, a picture of the three of us. We WERE ACTUALLY all there at one time. We're here at the Trevi Fountain.

The Circus Massimus during the 1st half of the Final.

Alyssa and myself at the Colloseum. Liz is also there, taking the picture.

So after Siena, we went to Rome. We arrived sunday afternoon, just in time for all the festivities surrounding the World Cup final. We walked all around the Roman Forum and the Colloseum, and then went to the Circus Maximus where they were busy setting up for the thousands of people who would come to watch the match that night. We found a great pizza place to eat at, who speedily rushed us through our meal so they could close down to watch the game. We saw the first half in the circus maximus with the huge crowds, but then decided to watch the second half in the comfort of our own hotel, as who knew what the crowd would do if the won or lost....and especially since we were all a bit wrecked from walking non-stop the previous 3 days we didn't wait around to find out. We watched the second half and extra-time with our hotel's receptionist who I think was happy for the company. The second Italy won (in penaltys at the end) the streets outside started going crazy. Fireworks went off just a few feet from our 3rd floor window, and the restaurant outside was busy opening champagne bottles and giving sips (and bottles!) to random pedestrians passing by. Didn't get much sleep that night, but we were all a bit caught up in the moment, and having fun with them, yelling Italia! out the window and stuff like that.....the next day was the Vatican....a slight change in mood.

it was great, we had a good time going through St. Peter's and the museums and Sistine Chapel, it was cool to see all the paintings I'd just studied in my senior semester Gen Ed. Intro to Art. Of course we found one of the best gelato places in rome, just beside the Vatican, it was gorgeous and they gave you loads....a nice combination. Walked around, had some iced baileys coffee, and then found a place to rest by the river. It was beautiful, we must have been there for over an hour, just talking, journaling, and lying down under the shade of trees from the hot beating sun. After that it was over to the pantheon, then we waited around for one of Liz's favourite restaurants to open that she had been to in May when she was in Rome before. The food was really good and worth the wait.

That night we made our way up to the Trevi Fountain (again had more gelato) and then over to the spanish steps (had to go to the traditional tourist sights, but really i just had more fun just soaking in the atmosphere). I really love the way that Italy is such a meeting of worlds, you can really tell your in the mediteranian, lots of north africans and arabs around, not to mention people from every corner of the world. I could have even sworn I saw a Cambodian woman selling scarves in the Campo Nuovo. Anyway, as I'm sure you can tell I really enjoyed it.

I left early the next morning for a plane to brussels where I had a good 6 hour lay over, for some reason I had originally thought it was longer and so decided to go into the main city centre and almost got sick on belgian waffles and chocolate, it was crazy good, but besides that there's not much to talk about there, I had a terrible time there navigating the public transport system, and so almost missed my bus back to the airport. But, it was all good in the end. I'd definitely go to Italy again, but I think I'd just spend most of it in the smaller towns and try to avoid other foreign tourists (every tourists dream...I know) but in my case the highlights weren't seeing the Michelangelo's or the Da Vinci's it was just the italian approach to life that got me to want to come back.