Roma, Eternal City...of a thousand steps! Woo boy, our calves and will be rock hard by the time we leave Seville. For the hundreds of churches here there must be a million steps. On Monday we left Sorrento for Rome, stopping at Pompeii on the way. Pompeii (destroyed by Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79*) was fascinating. The most popular spot at the site was, of course, the ancient red light district with a gambling hall, flop house and brothel. Some how the brothel frescos survived the volcano and you can see a menu of sorts for customers to point to, "I want that". Pretty vanilla stuff, if you ask me ;-)

We arrived via train in Rome at rush hour. That was fun! Figuring out the metro and navigating the streets to find our hostel was a fast introduction to what Rome is like. Crowded, busy, crazy drivers, homicidal scooter drivers and noisy. The first night we crossed the Tiber River and walked to the Spanish steps (more steps!). We were told it was a quick stroll. Oh, not so. Forty-five minutes later we reached to famed steps, which seem to be a popular evening hang out with the tourists and Italian teenagers. It reminded me of the parking lot outside my hometown roller skating rink, circa 1982. Lots of kids, clusters in packs, smoking and drinking way past their bed time. Apparently a very lavish McDonald's is right around the corner. We decided to skip that.

Yesterday, our first full day in Rome, we spent 10 hours seeing some major hotspots. In this order, the Foro Romano (Roman Forum), Colosseum (really is gigantic, but sadly no Russell Crowe in sight), the Palatine Hill, Trevi fountain where I tossed in the obligatory coin and made a wish (that my butt shrinks from all the stair climbing), the Pantheon, and the Borghese (that's, Bor-GAY-zay, FYI) Gallery Villa where we saw a few works by some bloke named Bernini. Popular guy - his stuff is all over Rome. Pretty good too ;-). Seriously, I was awe struck by his Apollo Chasing Daphne. The leaves of Daphne's transformation into a tree look so delicate, despite the stone medium.

Today we are just strolling around from church to church, piazza to piazza. Everywhere you look there is an old something or other to gaze at. We are starting to feel somewhat numb from all the beauty around us. I want to appreciate every thing I cast my eyes upon, but at some point you are just overwhelmed.

We are going to see the Vatican tomorrow before we head out to Florence. Tracy will be adding her voice to this blog, so look out for T-dogs take on our travels. Ciao!