When in Rome...

And thus it was that Dustin and Lauran set off on their journey. We reached England after a long night flight, took a bus from Heathrow airport through BEAUTIFUL England countryside to Stansted to store our luggage and leave our recently-greeted England on yet another plane (We've been traveling for about 35 hours at this point) to ROME. There we caught our last bus from the Ciampino airport to the city center of Rome - one of the most ancient cities still in existence.

Amazing. We pulled into the city around 5:00 and quickly (luckily) found our hostel, including our really weird Arab landlord (the bed picture is from our second Rome hostel which , including the Italian landlord, was much nicer except for the shared bathroom) then headed out to explore a bit on foot while the sun was still up, choosing to take the stairs rather than the lift (elevator) that was labeled "ride at your own risk". We found a tiny hole-in-the wall place with yummy pizza - they had little tomatoes cooked on top that exploded in your mouth whenever you took a bite, and the crust is closer to chewy sourdough bread than "normal" pizza - and again, hardly any grease involved (olive oil doesn't count)! And, of course, what better way to introduce yourself to Italy than by finding some authentic gelato - Aunt Teresa, you were right, the hazelnut is hands-down the best flavor!











The next morning (after listening to a crazy drunk Italian shout on the streets for a couple HOURS past midnight) we woke up, got ready, and explored Rome. On our way we passed a man playing - yes, it is Italy - an accordion on the streets. Nothing will make you feel more like you are in an Audrey Hepburn movie than hearing the wholly unique strains on an accordion permeate the morning. We bought bread and peaches from a tiny store on our walk to the COLOSSEUM!!!

Can you see him behind us??

The Colosseum is HUGE. Absolutely gigantic. We spent a lot of time there (and that time was pent inside, not waiting in line because Dustin was awesome and bought us ONLINE tickets before we left home - a must if you are wanting to see everything in Italy - we didn't wait in line our whole trip!!) We went and saw EVERYTHING today - We must have walked ten miles :) Arches, Palaces, columns, graves, museums, aqueducts, fountains, etc. I think it'd be most interesting if I just show you the pictures:

This was one of my favorite pictures of the trip - this is right outside of the Colosseum.

Aqueducts for Jared.

This is Trevi Fountain - huge sculptures!!


These are the Spanish steps - and this is a fountain at the bottom where we filled up our water bottles - probably not the best idea usually, but if the natives do it...

One of the best parts of the day happened as we were walking down the street and passed a church - we decided to go in, and ended up sitting for twenty minutes in a Roman cathedral listening to the dress rehearsal of Mozart's Requiem (we didn't have money for the performance that night). WOW! Music is a whole new creation when performed in a cathedral. Heavenly.

And while we walked around and around, we had to stop and get some more gelato :)



And next was the Pantheon.

We walked and walked and WALKED - we had such a fun day. I wish we'd taken pictures of everything - but about the time I documented the cobblestone pavement our battery started flashing low... it's a great feeling to be on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Italy and to know you have mere seconds of footage left before it dies. Ah, the joys of life. Mom L, we thought you'd like the cobblestones, so enjoy :) We love ROME!