Rome - The Pantheon

So I thought it'd be cool to document our walks throughout Rome by taking a picture of the streets we walk along to get to the major sights. Amy thought that this wouldn't be so cool, and has proceeded to not let me forget it. However, much to her aggrevation, I've been doing it anyway. But don't worry, I'm not going to bore everyone with all of those, just thought that'd be humorous to share.

So after settling in today, we headed out to see the Pantheon. Along the way, we stopped in this little church that held a Michaelangelo sculpture and Amy made sure that I was aware that I don't use a flash when taking pictures. Lucky for me, the new camera I bought has some awesome lighting assist, so my pictures are turning out great. However, Amy couldn't figure out how to turn the flash on her camera off and she snapped a nice big bright flash right in front of the priest. Luckily, he didn't seem to mind.

So we made it to the Pantheon to find that some restoration work was taking place on some of the outside columns, but that didn't take away from the experience. The engineer in me was pretty dazzled by the architecture of this place. No history lesson here, google it if you want. Got a couple of pics, including me cheesing in front of the Oculus (huge hole in the roof), that is completely open. Given that it was raining, rain basically just pours down into the center of the Pantheon and drains out through ancient holes in the floor. Pretty cool stuff.

Rome - Arrival

Ok, so those of you who know Amy and I well will know that I'm a bit more detail oriented, and thus my blogging could go on forever. So I'll do my best to keep things to numerous short blogs and include some pictures along the way.

So the flight over was pretty rough. Approximately 9 hours of feeling like I was squatting in a clown car. Airplanes suck for tall people. Naturally, Amy slept for about 7 hours of the flight. I wasn't so lucky, just slept a little off and on. Upon arriving in Rome, we jumped in a cab, which I've come to learn is like having a death wish with the traffic and driving habits over here. Basically, there are no rules and everyone is out for themselves, pedestrians and vehicles alike.

We got dropped off at Campò de Fiori, a little night spot about 1 block from the little apartment we've rented during our Roman stay. Turns out the little neighborhood we're staying in is somewhat famous, being on postcards, etc. The little place is nice, but the bathroom is something to get used to, as Amy already mentioned. Snapped a pic of the little postcard nook our apartment is in.

Karaoke!!!!

So, Chris & I went out to a lovely dinner tonight at a seafood restaurant on the sea. We had great wine and great food-seafood. It was a nice 2 hr dinner. Afterwards, we went to a few English pubs and then hit a KARAOKE bar. I talked 2 Italian girls into singing karaoke with me and we sang 2 songs together, one of them being the song with the lyrics "When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore." I love that song. It was a blast. Poor Chris had to deal with me because I had a little too much to drink tonight! Bummer that he couldn't hear me sing because the karoake guy loved to hear his voice so much that he sang along to every song and jacked his volume up and ours down that the only voice anyone in the crowd could hear was his-funny!

Addition by Chris: added the photo above. Despite using red-eye reduction mode, still got some glowing little eyes. Or maybe the Italian legends of vampires are true???

Rome

We are getting a late start on our blog!!! Sorry everyone who wants to follow our trip. Our time in Rome was sooooo hectic, yet so fun. We got into Rome Saturday morning and took a taxi to our apartment, a small studio apartment only 1 block from Campo d' Fiori, a popular plazza for dinner and drinking for locals and tourists. Our place was in the perfect location and we had our own bathroom but our bathroom was TINY, as in the sink was part of the shower. While in Rome, we saw all the main attractions-the Colosseum, Roman Forum, St. Peters-gorgeous and huge, and had some funny experiences. One night a peddler tried giving me a rose and I kept saying NO. He insisted and eventually I accepted. Chris told me to drop it and I guess I didn't hear him. The guy waited next to Chris and eventually took his rose back and said "No money, no honey"-hilarious. We got to Sorrento today-took 2 trains to get here. We spent the day relaxing here at our beautiful, yet inexpensive hotel. We will add some pictures to the blog during our next entry . . .We miss everyone . . . signing out for now!!!!

AMY AND CHRIS