In Rome

Front of Church



Back of Church, or, Our Front Door







Outside the window by my bed.


The internet here seems to go in and out, and so it has been difficult to make this first post. I have a feeling that isn't going to improve much.

The flight was uneventful, although long. I wasn't able to get comfortable enough to sleep, so I was pretty tired when I got to Rome. Marda and I befriended a woman from San Francisco who is on vacation and was equally as lost; we all got on a shuttle that dropped people off at various hotels and he was nice enough to take us to our location, for 40 euro of course. The ride was nice though, because we drove past all sorts of monuments. It is interesting how these ancient ruins are just stuck in the middle of modern buildings, and they creep up on you so that you turn a corner and there is another one. I also noticed that a lot of the buildings are very run down, and there is a ton of graffiti. We were told that it is difficult to get things like plumbing fixed because everyone takes there time doing things in a way that sounded pretty New Orleanean.

We are staying in an old monastery that is at the back of a pretty awesome church. The Piazza Navona is always full of people, and the alley behind the church is lined with restaurants. While I was sleeping this evening, I was woken up to various musicians and very drunk Italian group singing. We were so tired that all we did was eat something and go to sleep. We were too dazed to investigate food thoroughly, so we just sat down at a touristy spot. It was very reasonable (the pizza was huge and like 6 euro) and was better pizza than anywhere in New Orleans or Oxford at least.

Outside my window, you can see both the Vatican and the monument to Vittorio Emanuelle II. Right now I can see the sun rise, which makes me realize that this is going to be another long, tired day.