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Ciao Rome!

Tuesday, November 20th, 2007

I have never in my life had gelato as delicious as it is in Rome!!!  And the pizza…ohhhh gracious, my mouth just waters thinking about it.  We arrived in Rome via a train from Venice with a plan to stay five days before flying to Africa.  It was a little nerve wracking to think that we would be leaving for a third world country in a few days, but we were also amazed at how quickly time past while we traveled Europe.  It is strange to think that the first leg of our trip was coming to an end.

Steve was my hero when we arrived in Rome because he had taken the time to book us a really nice apartment just two blocks away from the Coliseum…and about 50 feet away from the best gelato place in all of Rome!  The apartment was perfect for us to get some R&R and take care of lose ends before we left for Africa.  Plus, with its great location, we could explore Rome very easily.  We also needed to have an address in Rome that Steve’s parents could ship a package to us.  Before we left home, we gathered up our hiking equipment and extra clothes that we needed for our Kili hike and boxed them up to ship so we didn’t have to carry all of that stuff through Europe with us.  So, once we had the address in Rome, Steve’s parents sent the package off via Fed Ex.  It was of course suppose to arrive two days before we left for Africa, but does shipping a package ever go smoothly?  We tracked the package on line and the day it was scheduled to arrive, we waited around at the apartment so we didn’t miss it.  Well, we waited and waited and waited.  We got such cabin fever that we had to take turns going for walks.  I visited a chathedral by myself and then when I returned, Steve went off to an internet cafe.  The package was set to be delivered by 8:00pm.  When it looked as if the package wouldn’t show, Steve started making some phone calls.  But of course, the customer service was Italian and we had a hard time communicating with them in English.  After calling three different phone numbers and being told everything from “It’s on its way” to “We don’t know where it is” to “Sorry it is set for delivery tomorrow,” Steve was able to track exactly where the package was and requested that it be held until he could pick it up himself the next morning.  The next day, we woke up really early.  Steve decided to travel across Rome by himself and I would wait at the apartment in case the package actually did get delivered.  He ended up having to take two trains, a bus, a trolley and then walk almost two miles through an industrial area to reach the Fed ex office where he could pick up the package, which luckily they held for him. 

By the time he got back to the apartment, it was noon, so whe high tailed it over to the Vatican and Sistine chapel, which was the last place on our list to visit.  Wouldn’t you know it, it was closed.  Of course I was pretty pissed by this time because we had wasted a day and a half  doing nothing, but then I realized  that this would  be my excuse to come back to Rome!!!  I love having an excuse to travel.

All in all, Rome is an amazing city.  There is so much to see that I cannot begin to describe everything, but to think that all of beautiful marble architecture was built over 2000 years ago is just amazing.