Hi Everybody,

Rome was fantastic. We all left after class on Thursday and arrived that evening. The train was about an hour late, so we may be reimbursed for our tickets. That night we went out for food, and saw the building that the Wedding Cake was created after. I can't recall the actual name, but it was one of the most impressive sights I've ever seen. After that we went for gelato and saw the Trevi fountain and ended up getting lost. Eventually we stumbled back to our hotel at about 2 in the morning, dead tired.

The next day we woke up unfortunately rather late, and went off to the Colloseum. On the way, there was the Trajan's Column, and arch. The colloseum was fantastic. Unfortunately, we got scammed by a bogus tour. The tour was technically illegal and they failed to give us our tickets, which would have got us into the palatine for free. I was furious. It only lasted about 20 minutes of the promised hour. Although, I suppose if you're going to get scammed, Rome is the place to do it.

Regardless, the seeing the Colloseum was amazing. After that, we got lunch, and headed off to the forum. We walked around this for a long time, marvelling at the ruins. However, we were all tired, and headed out for drinks, then a quick dinner, then it was off to the Pantheon. A friend of Annique's from school also happened to be in Rome, and I was going to go hang out with them that night, as I knew him from freshman year. But, I was too beat, and bailed to go off with everyone else.

We also saw a few of Rome's better piazza's (piazza navona, I believe, was one of them). But, we had to get to bed relatively early, because the next day was the Vatican.

The next day we were up by 6 and out the door at 6:30. We were at the Vatican at about quarter to seven. It was a good thing we got there early, as there was already a line. The doors opened at about 8, and then we were off to tour their museums. Their collection of religious art was phenomenal, as was their collection of Roman art. We spent most of the morning going through the museum, and finally got to the highlight, the Sistine chapel. This truly was great. I was particularly impressed by the last judgement. But, we also saw da vinci's, rafael's (surprisingly, some Salvador Dali's). After this it was off to St. Peter's. (oh, I sent a postcard from the Vatican home, so you guys should keep an eye out for that).

St. Peter's was the most impressive structure I have ever been inside. We saw the pieta. I'll have to show you pictures, although none of them do the church justice. We also toured the tomb that holds all the popes. After that the day was mostly spent, and we returned to the hotel to shower and head out for dinner.

We went out to a restaraunt near the Trevi. The food was fantastic, fairly cheap, much better than in Venice. Rome's food is as good as Venice's is mediocre. Then we went out for drinks with some Roman waiters that we had met the night before.

The next day we slept in a bit, and then headed out to the Palatine hill. Of everything that I saw in Rome, this may be my favorite. The hill is covered with the ruins of the golden palace. We spent several hours strolling through them. Then, it was off to Hadrian's mausoleum, which also, oddly enough, served as the pope's residence at one point in time. It's very castle-like, and has some great views. After this, we had to rush back to the hotel to make our 7 o'clock train.

We made it back to Junghans at about 2:30 last night.

Anyway, it's time to catch up on work after a busy weekend. I hope that everything is going well back home. I love you all, and miss you.

I'll try and update with some pictures tonight or tomorrow.