When in Rome

So, we actually do have (limited) internet access here (though it's windows ME which means accomplishing anything is real difficult). But, because I am a computer genius, I managed to connect my camera, though facebook uploads are more of a pain here than at Schiller.

Anyway, on Rome:
So, after a day of travelling (walk to tube to bus to airport to train to metro to bus to walk) we finally get to our wonderful hotel. It was a little outside of central Rome, but it was a nice hotel on top of a hill and we had a balcony with a sweet view. We threw our things in the room, but we couldn't figure out why our power was out in our room. There was a little glowing slot on the wall that looked like it would hold our keycard but that didn't fit so we asked the front desk. Come to find out, you use the other (thinner) side of the keycard (and it has nothing to do with the computer chip). Anyway, we went to dinner at a real Italian restaurant right down the street. The waiter started out by asking us if we ate horse meat. We should've seen that as a warning. So, I ordered a coke and Mallory ordered a water. I got wine and she got water. We switched. Our first course came out and it was a salad, bread, and some odds and ends. In one plate was a mushy substance with olives (it tasted pretty good but had a funny texture) and some fried peppers (also good). In the other plate was....well...some sort of meaty textured, thin-culiflower looking thing (dry and gross). Also in the other plate was what can only be described as chunks of cold animal fat. It kind of tasted like I was trying to eat candle wax, but it was slightly more clear than candle wax.....it was extremely gross and it took everything in me to swallow it. After awhile the pasta came- one was a speghetti with a meat sauce, and the other was noodles with a tomato sauce. We decided to just get the noodles and that was it. It was a fairly lengthy meal, as we had to wait for awhile between each course (and half an hour for the bill) but Mallory and I enjoyed conversation and some live Italian music. After eating we crashed in our hotel.

Okay, so pictures are incredibly painful, so I'll post them in a separate post tomorrow.

Day 2 in Rome:
We started out with a breakfast (some cereal and pastries) and then jumped on the shuttle into Central Rome (provided by the hotel). We decided to go to the Colliseum first. It was gigantic. It was really cool walking around in such an ancient building. It's hard to comprehend something that old and big because American culture is only 200-years-old. Seeing the huge amount of work and architecture was awesome.
After the Colliseum we went to Vatican City. Also very beautiful. We climbed to the top of the Cupola (550 steps). The steps got narrower as we climbed higher and it was hard to resist the claustrophobia. But we finally emerged at the top of the dome and looked out across the city. It was truly beautiful. We then climbed back down (again, 550 steps) and went into the sanctuary area. The artwork and size were breathtaking. It was really cool to be in such an important place in history and the Catholic Faith. We thought about going through some of the tombs, but we decided against it.
We then did some suvenir shopping. That was fun. For lunch we grabbed some pizzas. As we did our shopping we wandered around to various places, looking at the fountains all over the city. There were both decorative fountains and practical fountains (for drinking and washing). The practical fountains were more frequent than in Paris, so it was fairly easy to refill our water. We stopped quick to take a picture of the Theatre dell'Opera, grabbed a quick bite for dinner (Kabop) and then decided to rest and wait for the bus.
As we were waiting for the bus, a little ways away two men got in a fight. One of the guys ripped the other guy's shirt. The other men in the area got them settled down, but the guy with the ripped shirt just went a little ways away and kept harassing the other man. After a few minutes, the other man started to leave (walking past Mal and me) when he turned around and advanced on Ripped Shirt. He then broke a beer bottle and chased Ripped Shirt away. It was a little scary, but we were okay. We just relaxed in our hotel room the rest of the evening.

Day 3 in Rome:
We decided to take it real easy on Sunday, so we checked out of the hotel but then went to the pool. We sat by the pool, occassionally getting in, for about 4 hours (it was about 90 degrees). It was relaxing, though I got some sunburn (even with suntan lotion). We then made the journey back to London and went to bed, ready to head out again to Cornwall.