Day 2

(6-1-31)

Rome

Dear all,

Tonight is my turn to take up the mantle of eurotrip historian so here it goes!!! We got to a late start today because both of our backs and lower appendages were barely operational from excessive walking, but we eventually sucked it up and dragged ourselves down to the piazza navona. At the piazza we had some amazing gelato! (I could practically taste the strawberry patch in mine.....and this is no small accomplishment considering my refined berry palate ;)....).

We then sat down at a modest restaurant looking out onto the piazza, only to get up 90 seconds later after we realized it was a horribly overpriced tourist trap. After sticking it to the Man, we walked a few blocks away from the piazza and popped Into a bakery/pizzeria to order some cheap hybrid pizza/sandwiches....???...I guess ( we don't know what exactly they were, the owners only spoke Italian so we pointed and grunted our lunch orders) But they tasted good and the PRICE WAS RIGHT!

On to pantheon which was really great. The building is 2000 years old and the exterior is in great shape! Inside I paid my respects to the grave of my home boy Raphael, while Elizabeth marvelled at the mathematical beauty of the  pantheon's rotunda.  Both of us had a swell time.

After the breath taking pantheon, we decided to hop on the metro to sceedaddle on down to the ancient baths, only to find out the place would close in 30 minutes. Curse you Lonely Planet! We decided to cut our losses and hang out in the beatiful villa borgese where we sat down under a massive statue of a horseman and shared some more gelatto.

After the park, we headed back to our accommodations and picked up some food from a local grocery shop and pizza joint by utilizing our outstanding italian langauge skills. everything was great (including the cooked fennel!) It was a pretty good day but we are deffinitely in need of some much needed rest before we enter the big leagues tomorrow.....Vatican city.

Until next time, this is Will, signing off.