Hellllooo!

Ok, so I have been a total slacker (also pretty busy) and haven't done this in a while...so bare with me while I try to remember as much as possible! When Mallory and I got to Rome, we checked into our hostel (Allesandro Downtown), left our stuff there and headed out to do all of the touristy stuff. We decided to do the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica that day, since it was Saturday and St. Peter's was closed on Sunday. Rome was HOT, so we were in dresses and skirts. We waited in line, took a lot of pictures (naturally..being Catholic and all)...went through security and headed towards St. Peter's Basilica. As we apparoched a tent like thing with some guards, they pointed to us and our shoulders and in bad english, told us to stand to the side. Well apparently you can't go into St. Peter's without sleeves....something we did not realize..obviously. Well, our only option was to head back out of the lines...back to the streets and into a corner store to purchase ourselves some beautiful scarves/shaws to wear over our sleeveless shoulders. Well let me tell you...my black and gold scarf matched beautifully with my bright, light blue dress! Mallory's red and tan one fit with her outfit a little bit better, but still was just wonderful! After waiting in line and going through security...again, the fashion police let us in with our new garments. Although we were walking in in high fashion, we fit right in with a ton of women who clearly had made a purchase from the side shop similar to ours. St. Peter's Basilica was HUGE and so pretty on the inside. The statues, paintings, alters, ceilings....everything was gorgeous. It was really cool to see where a bunch of previous popes had been buried and hear about the history of it all on our audio guides. After we finished up at St. Peter's Basilica we ate a pizza place in the area (surprise, surprise) and then headed over to the Vatican. We really didn't have to wait in any sort of line at the Vatican and got right in. We only got one audio guide this time and went on our way. We were really excited to see the Sistine Chapel and in order to get to that, we had to go through a ton of different rooms. The different rooms were pretty and had a lot of different things in them, like painted maps and statues...among other things. After walking through a lot of rooms...that seemed to go on forever, we finally got to the Sistine Chapel. This was truly amazing to see. The frescoes were all so beautiful and it was really neat to think about how long ago they were painted. We used our audioguide in there and learned a lot about the history of the chapel and different facts about it. The famous "God Creates Adam" fresco by Michelangelo was really cool to actually see in real life. They didn't allow pictures inside the Sistine Chapel, but I think Mallory might have snuck a few in. Unfortunately, we did not meet or see Pope Benedict XVI, but maybe next time :)

When we got back to our hostel, we were able to get into our room and met a girl from New Zealand. This time our room was an 8-person all female room, which was a change from the past few times. While we were unpacking, a girl named Kate woke up from a nap and we learned she was from northern England and living in Rome for the summer while she was working. She was super nice and seemed like a lot of fun. She worked for a Colosseum Pub Crawl by handing out fliers and then working the events that were held each night. Mallory and I weren't really sure what we were going to do and that sounded like a fun, safe thing...so we decided to try it out. We got all ready in our hot non-airconditioned room (nothing in Europe has air conditioning)...and took the tube to the Colosseum. It was easy because as soon as we got off the train there was someone there to basically pick us up, walk us a few steps and show us where everyone was at. We walked out of the station and looked straight at the humongous, lit up Colosseum. It was the first time we had seen it and was unbelievable! The pub crawl started right in front of the huge piece of Roman history and as we drank our free beer, with our free tee-shirts (after we paid a fee to do the whole thing, of course)...we stared at the Colosseum. It was so cool! We got there pretty late, and missed the first 45 minutes of free drinks..which was fine since we got to drink in front of the Colosseum. After watching some 18 year olds involve themselves in some spring break-like games...that I am sure the Roman gods wouldn't approve of, we headed off to the first pub/bar. Since there were so many of us, we were able to get on a bus to take us. The nice part of the whole thing was that the people who worked for it made sure that everyone got on, got to the next bar, left the bar, and so on. While we were on the bus, we met some girls from Ireland and told them that our family is from Ireland. After they asked, we told them we were from County Cork and County Galway our family names are Cummings and Lee. After they dissed on Cork, they had the nerve to ask us how we spelled Lee...then proceed to tell us, "that's funny because in Ireland, it would be spelled 'Leigh'." Well the ignorant girls had no idea who they were talking to and right away Mallory snapped back and said, "well that's funny because the river that runs through Cork is spelled 'LEE'." The girls had that.."oh crap, she is right" look on their face and that pretty much ended the conversation. :)

After the short bus ride, we had to walk to the bar. On the way there, we stopped at an ATM and met a nice girl from the states. We exchanged small talk and she asked where we were from. I told her that I was from Missouri and Mallory was from Kansas and....(you might not all believe this..and Max I'm sorry to say that she was from Minnesota).....but, after we told her, she proceed with this ridiculous comment and a little chuckle, "oh, where is that...I always get those M states messed up!" Ok...since you all probably don't believe me, you should. I will sum up what this means....SHE DID NOT KNOW WHERE MISSOURI AND KANSAS WERE....SHE IS FROM MINNESOTA. Really? I looked at her strangely and said, "it is 2 states away...it goes Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri."....and then Mallory goes, "are you from the United States?"...we were both pissed! What an idiot...and the best part about it was that she was on the trip because she just graduated...not from Kindergarden ladies and gentlemen...from COLLEGE...from the University of Minnesota! We both were stunned.

Clearly, there were some super ignorant, uneducated people on this pub crawl.

Well besides all of that, the pub crawl was a lot of fun. The first bar we went to was pretty small, but fun. On the way to the 2nd place, we stopped and got some pizza...not necessary, but it's fine. We got behind the group a little bit, but Mallory waited outside and one of the people working the pub crawl waited and then walked with us to the next place. The next bar was more like a club, so of course we danced and ended up sweating...a lot. After that place, we walked quite a ways to the next bar. While we were in line, I met a girl that was from Springfield, MO and went to Glendale High School there. Small world, huh! I told her about Max going to Missouri State and we laughed at the fact that we were both in Rome...strange. When we got into the bar, we decided to call a cab. We were both pretty tired and knew we had a big day ahead of us. Kate told us not to pay more than 8 euros for a cab and we were NOT going to. When the cab driver was ready to drop us off, we told us 12 euros..I believe...and we were not having it. We argued and got it down to 10, which was good enough for us. When we got back to the hostel, we decided to pay the 1 euro to get onto the internet. The next day, we decided we hit an ultimate low...paying to drunk facebook. Yes...it is pretty sad. Anyways, so after we got on the computer, we headed to bed. In the dark, I set my alarm on my camera and put it under my pillow to make sure it didn't fall off the bed. I slept with no blankets because it was SO hot in the room.

The next morning, I woke up before my alarm and grabbed my camera from under my pillow. As I lifted my pillow, I noticed what I thought were tissues (ended up being receipts) and this small packet of lotion..(which later noticed it was called, "Special Midnight Cream"). Ok...first of all....NONE of it was mine....GROSS. I was too tired and it was too early to deal with it then, so I put my pillow down and went back to sleep. When I woke up, I looked down to the bottom bunk and told Mallory...she busted out laughing. It was funny....but seriously so gross! I DO NOT want to know what the "Special Midnight Cream" was used for.....ughhhhhhhh sick! I told the front desk and they wrote down my room number and where my bed was. After breakfast, Mallory and I got ready and went to the Colosseum...this time to check out the inside! Kate told us that it was best to get an audio guide so we could hear some of the history, so we did just that. Our tour guide was funny and such a hardass! We were standing in an area listening to what she was saying and this man walked up that wasn't in our tour group. She stopped what she was saying, looked at him and said something like "sir...you can go that way.." and pointed in the direction opposite of our group. (Mallory, correct me if you can). The guide was helpful and we learned about the different areas of the Colosseum. It was probably my favorite part of Rome. It was so cool to think about how long ago it was built and what it would have taken to build a structure that size. It was also crazy to think that most of it withstood an earthquake and is still standing after so many years. We both were in awe of the whole thing. After we had our tour and took pictures, we decided to get something to eat. Our Colosseum guided tour also came with a guided tour of the area that had a bunch of Roman ruins. We had time to eat before that started, so we went and got some delicious pizza and pasta. I LOVE Italian food! :) After our lunch, we went back to the area around the Colosseum. I decided to buy some sunglasses after bartering with the guy with Mallory's help. When our guide showed up, we walked across the street to the ruins. They were all really cool. We got to see the old palaces and even Mussolini's house, which was right in the middle of the ruins. He even had to knock over some of the old ruins to build it. After the ruins, we made a quick stop at the Pantheon and took a look around. It was getting late, so we decided to find the restaurant that our tour guide said was the best pizza place in Rome. Unfortunately, because it was Sunday, it and a lot of things were closed. We ended up finding a place to eat, and guess what? We got pizza....and a bottle of wine. It was delicious! On the subway ride back to the hostel, we decided to take pictures of our feet because they were absolutely, disgustingly dirty! After entertaining ourselves with that, we were entertained by one of the cutest little Italian children I have ever seen. He was throwing a fit, which was actually really cute and funny. His mom was trying to give him something and in during his fit, he said, "no grazia, no grazia, no grazia!!"...which means "no thank you" in Italian. Mallory and I thought it was the cutest thing ever!!

When we got back to the hostel, I checked under my pillow...and the receipts and special midnight cream were all STILL there! We had a laugh, and I ran downstairs to talk to the front desk (who had changed staff by then). The girl at the front desk was really nice and also just as disgusted as I was. She told me that the cleaning people were a bit crazy, and left a note for her boss. While I was in the shower, she came and changed the sheets and left me a note apologizing again. Although it was really disgusting...it is pretty funny! We got all of our stuff packed up and went to bed. We had a 4:30am bus to catch, so we needed all the sleep we could get.

Sorry for taking so long to get this up, but enjoy! Mallory...please add anything you think I missed!

Love and miss you all....and keep commenting...I LOVE hearing from you all!

Sarah