Viva Roma!

It is our first full day in Italy’s capital.  One thing we can say for certain is that it is much cleaner than Florence, but the weather is simply horrible.  Today, the high was supposed to be 91, and the humidity is off the charts.  Not to mention that the air is completely still.

Last night we checked into our hotel about 8:40 just a few minutes after the soccer match started.  We quickly hit the streets to find a place to watch the match, but we could not find one immediately.  We heard cheering and continued toward the noise.  We turned the corner and saw a huge crowd of people surrounding some TVs on the outside wall of a local pub.  We pulled up a piece of sidewalk and watched the match with at least 200 Italy and Spain fans.  Unfortunately, the game went all the way to penalty kicks.  This was bad for two reasons—first, Italy lost, and second, we had to stand for the entire game.

After the game, we grabbed some more pizza at the first restaurant that was still open.  Then, we staggered back to the room and quickly fell asleep.

This morning we rose early, had some breakfast, and walked over to our ancient ruins tour.  We started with a walk-through of the Coliseum.  The size was overwhelming, and the structure was still in incredibly shape for its age.  We examined a bunch of artifacts in their exhibit, and it was interesting to see how ruthless, arrogant, and violent the Romans were. 

We then strolled through Augustus’s palace and walked through the remains of the Forum.  Since it was approaching early afternoon, we truly began to broil.  At this point, we decided to head back to the room to cool of and recover.

We ended up taking a much needed nap and reenergized for the evening.  At about 4 o’clock, we got up and visited the Trevi fountain.  We need to read up more about it, but it was quite impressive.  We wanted to see it lit up at night, so we sat at a street-side café and had some dinner.  After an hour or so, we walked back to the fountains, and they had turned the lights on.  Keep in mind that it was still very light, and it was approaching 9.  We took some more pictures, threw in some American coins, made a wish, and left.

We decided we wanted to check out the Coliseum at night.  Walking around the city in the evening is so much more enjoyable.  Although it is still warm, the sun is not mercilessly hammering you.  The Coliseum was fantastic.  Each arch was lit, and it made it quite the impressive sight.  What else was nice is that there was almost nobody around.  You could truly reflect on the historical aspect of the building.  We sat around for a while just taking in the view, and then we decided to head home.  Actually, both of our camera’s batteries were running low, and we could not take any more pictures.

We are going to try and get some sleep and re-hydrate.  Tomorrow, we will take our tour of the Vatican.  Please send us cool thoughts because we all have to wear long pants to be able to get in.  I am afraid we are really going to cook.

Until next time.

Arrive derce.