when in rome....

wow, so much to talk about...never enough internet time. anyway, life has been excellent.

after florence, i went to rome for a few days. originally i wasn't sure if i wanted to head that far south, but having now been there, i can't imagine not having made the trek!

rome is AWESOME!! i learned much more about the city than i had ever known, and holy moly those romans were flippin crazy!! i was blessed with awesome weather...brilliant blue skies warm(ish) temperatures, and amazing sunsets. i couldn't imagine walking around with all that history every single day. incredible. the first day i was there, i wandered from my hostel and made my way to the ancient city. it's pretty much as cool as it sounds. everywhere you turn there is something.

and the food....omg, the food. so i love italian food as it is, but when you can get the real thing on every corner for super cheap, life is incredible!!!

rome was also cool because i happened to run into a few aussies that i had met in paris, so we got to hang out again! and half of the people from the hostel i stayed at in florence ended up coming to the same one in rome, so it was like we were old friends already. the first night we went on a pub crawl...it was really fun, and kind of surreal when you just happen to stroll by the pantheon on your way to the next bar. awesome.

i think the pantheon has become one of my favorite buildings. i made a point to walk by it or into it every day i was in rome, and it never became less incredible. i still can't believe that even with all our modern-day technology, etc., that we still have NO idea how they managed to single-pour the concrete of the dome of the pantheon without it collapsing. flippin sweet.

oh, and did i mention that i saw the pope?! i went to the vatican on sunday only to find a bunch of people outside and looked up to see the pope speaking out of the window!! (but don't get too excited...turns out he comes out every sunday and wednesday. still cool, i say.

the vatican really went all out during their counter-refermation stage. st. peter's basilica and the sistine chapel really are as impressive as i've always heard them to be.

so i really had a great time in rome, and was sad to leave it and all the friends that i had made there.

but, off i was back up to northern italy. i opted not to give pisa the benefit of the doubt, so i got off my train, snapped some pics, then got right on the next train. the tower's still leaning, don't worry.

and then i went to cinque terre, this beautiful collection of five small villages on the italian riviera. i wish i had more time to spend there and relax amongst the houses in the hills and to do the 5 hour hike between villages along the via dell' amore...walk of love. it's this beautiful path along the cliffs of the mountains that leads from one village to the next...think malibu with gelato. and more brilliantly colored houses.

alright i don't have much more time, so i'll post this now, and write about the rest of my adventures soon.

ciao bella!!!! (to no one in particular...)