Rome

Greg and I arrived in Italy on Monday night. Our hotel is in campo di fiori, which is a trendy piazza at night and a popular market place in the day. On the first day we visited the vatican, the trevi fountain, the spanish steps, the pantheon and so much more. Everywhere we turned there was something old and beautiful ... everything looked important. We wandered the city for over 8 1/2 hours! Greg;s feet were killing him!

I was really looking forward to the shopping here, however I havenàt found anything that is better than what I have at home, or that I can afford. probably more of the latter. Oh well, I guess that means more money for gilato and pizza!

Today we were supposed to meet our sitejogging trainer at 7:50am, however he was running late so Carolina, the owner of sitejogging, took us a quick walking tour around the piazza and down via giulia, which quickly became my favorite street. Evertyhing looks more beautiful without all of the people and the tourists. It was as if the street was just for us!

Then we walked back to the hotel and met our trainer, however they thought we were supposed to be german and they were so late, Carolina gave us the tour for free! Our trainer was able to do the tour in english, however he struggled just a bit. We ran from our hotel to St. Peters and up the spanish steps and through the city. it was amazing and I really think running through city is the best way to see it!

This afternoon we walked all over again. This time we went to see the mouth of truth from "Roman Holiday" with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, then off to the colliseum, the forum and the Palitone. It was all so unbelievable! I sat on a piece of a roman column! How often can you say that?

After the coliseum we walked through the Jewish Ghetto and saw the synagogue ... itàs amazing how old and well maintained everything is.

We ended the day back around campo di fiori and got my first gilato of the day. Then we watched people in the piazza for a bit and went back to the hotel for a quick cat nap ...

Later we wandered out of the hotel and had dinner in the piazza and then walked to the trevi fountain for our second viewing, but this time at night. Its just as crowded at night as it is in the day, but there is something very romantic about Rome at night ... everything is lit up and people are wanderign the streets, itàs all really beautiful. I ended the night with my final gilato.

Tomorrow we are off to Florence! I hope the city is a little slower paced than rome ... itàs beautiful here, but also quite overwhleming.

Ciao!
Julia