Rome Done Right.

Rome. WOW. In two days. WOW. All I can say is its a good thing we took photos, cause its a bit of a blur.We took a tour of the Coliseum- really incredible, its amazing how well thought out this thing was- if it weren't for the middle ages and the pilfering that took place, it would be standing in tack still, built to withstand earthquakes and all.

St. Peter's Basilica: Vatican City. Wow. Go. It could never be explained. Simply go. Also, take a tour- it saves you a three hour wait (at least it did for us) and makes the whole thing much more memorable. Da vinci lived there, and then was kicked out for doing autopsies apparently.

There was an amazing amount of art in the museum. . . depicting bibilical scenes, popes, and saints. . . not to mention the main attraction: the Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel (who wasn't actually a painter before this, he previously only did sculptures)

A painting from the museum of Peter's death (peter is buried here under St. Peter's basilica, which can hold 60,000 people by the way, more than any other church in the world)

In other parts of Rome we saw the Trevi Fountain (much more impressive in person, if you manage to see it given the hordes of folks surrounding it)

The parliament building- which a picture really can't do justice- the building and the square were quite impressive

A tour group, not walking or bus-ing, but. . . well doing this:

We also saw the Spanish Steps

Tim got thirsty. . .

and hungry. . .so we stopped and ate pizza (Eating pizza in Italy (cheaply) involves going to a pizzeria, choosing which pizza you want from the 5-15 pizzas in the warmer, the worker then weighs the pizza (yes on a scale, like when we buy deli meat back home) and sells it to you according to the weigh) There, now you are prepped for when you go.

and two Koreans proudly sporting the couple shirt

Korea has come up a lot on this trip- my favorite story is the following:

Tim and I hopped a train to Cinque Terre, north of Rome, and ended up sitting with a couple of Aussies. We chatted and soon discovered that they had just spent this last 6 months in South Korea, 20 mins from where I had been teaching. We reminisced, exchanging stories for awhile, talking about the customs and food in Korea. Eventually another person, this time an older Italian gentleman, entered our section. It didn't take long to discover that he too had been to Korea, working there for awhile. The Italian's absolute first comment about the country:

"It's impossible to eat in Korea!" hehe. . .