Arrivederci, Florence… Hello, Rome!
The Snook and I now find ourselves in the Eternal City. Unfortunately I haven’t seen any of the quintessential Rome movies (Roman Holiday, La Dolce Vita), so I’ve been reduced to saying things like “Hey, that’s where the Griswolds got their video camera stolen!” every five minutes.

But my cultural ignorance aside, Rome is a lovely place. On our first day we visited the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. St. Peter’s was definitely my favorite place, and I think it may be my favorite church ever. It’s full of beautiful paintings and statues and mosaics, but it doesn’t look gaudy and everything is just the right scale and position. I didn’t even mind that the stupid guard made me put a skirt on. (Shorts are evidently not quite holy enough, but I’d brought a skirt for such a case. I wasn’t about to walk around in two layers though, so I have the distinct honor of taking my pants off in the Vatican.) We finished our first day at a Roman steakhouse where the Snook and I both consumed the biggest hunks of cow we’d every seen in our lives. When in Rome, I guess…

Today we hit the Colosseum first thing in the morning to try to beat the crowds. Unfortuately our strategy failed, as the line was still half an hour long. A nice man sold me twenty postcards for a euro though so I stood in line writing them out to everybody I had addresses for (which wasn’t a lot, since I forgot to update iPod with them before I left). If you want one, drop me an e-mail with your address. (Especially Brigita and Tricia, as I had addresses for you but I wasn’t sure if they were correct.) Less than a week to go!