The rest of my time in Rome

I was going to do a day-to-day synopsis of my time in Rome, but seeing as I'm already in Thailand, I'm going to speed things along.

My time in Rome was really good! During the days, I usually slept until about 9 or 10 and left the house at about 12 after taking my time over breakfast, reading, etc. I took off on my own (Francesca loaned me her keys for the week) and explored the touristy sights with the help of the buses, metro and trams of Rome. My shoes sure got a workout while I was there!

I went to check out the Vatican one day and was shocked at the number of people there! The line to get into the basilica was stretched clear across the plaza. I decided to pass on that, seeing as I'm not even Catholic, but I did want to head to Vatican museum to see the Sistine Chapel and all of the other stuff around there. I saw a massive line when I arrived, but I wasn't aware of just how massive it was because it went around the walls of the Vatican, and you couldn't see around to the front of it. Forty-five minutes after joining up in the line, I finally entered the museum to join the other million people already inside. It was worth the wait. The frescoes and paintings on the ceilings and walls, not to mention the great mosaic work on the floors were amazing! The Sistine Chapel was pretty impressive, but I also found the map room to be amazing. (This is a shot of the awe-inspiring ceiling.)

Before I'd gone to Rome, I think it was Derek who was saying that it's a city that is a walking museum, and he was so right! If you're not into the architecture from between 1600-1900, then there's the stuff from the ancient Romans. If you're not into that, there are museums. If you don't like those, it's fun to just walk through the narrow alleyways that snake through the historic center to see what's behind the corners. Then there's the shopping, the food, the parks, and the friendly people.

As you can probably tell, I really enjoyed my visit. I think I especially had an amazing time because I had Francesca to introduce me to her friends and to show me around to her favorite places in Rome. The Saturday that I was there was especially nice. We were invited to lunch at her friend Valerio's place, which is kinda in the outskirts of Rome. We were supposed to be there at 3, but that's when we were leaving the house, so we arrived close to 4:15 or 4:30, but it was just in time for lunch. Enjoying the sun, we plopped down on the grass with another 5 or 6 people to enjoy some risotto, fabulous pasta and wine, then cookies for dessert.

Post our massive feast, we went indoors where I hopped in on the backgammon play and had a few hours of that before I let one of Francesca's friends cut my hair. She'd just cut Roman's (Fran's boyfriend) hair and had done a good job, so I let her at mine. She did a decent job and restored it to its shortness from a few years ago.

After the haircut, we were invited to dinner at Valerio's neighbor's house (at about 10:15pm). My slowly-expanding belly protested, but then I stuffed in some polenta and cheese.

Then the discussion started about what to do later that evening. Bar, club, what? It was decided that we were going to head to a drum and bass party (that's electronic music). I was hoping for a bar because it would mean I would get to bed sooner (I'm feeling so old!), but I wasn't the one driving. At about 12:30, we took off. After we arrived, I found out that the party was at an old club that had been abandoned and was now an underground club that is being squatted in. This is fairly common in certain parts of Rome, as far as I understand, but it made the story more interesting. At first, I didn't really know if I enjoyed being there or not, but eventually, I started dancing and we left when they turned the lights on, which was right around when the sun was starting to peek out over the horizon. The best part was that I hadn't had much to drink, so I was only just very tired and after some sleep, I didn't have to battle a hangover!

Anyway, Rome eventually came to an end, but it was great seeing Francesca, meeting her friends and getting to know one of Europe's more famous cities.