Rome is...looking up!

Bonjourno! Well, it is our last night at our hostel in Rome :( We have had a wonderful experience with them...yea, Hostel Alessandro Palace! So, here as usual are the events of our wonderful day!

Our day started with a walk to the Spanish Steps...really they are just a heck of a lot of stairs. Probably if we new the history about them they would be much more interesting (Booth?). After the Spanish Steps we headed over towards the tiber river to see the Piazza del Tribunali, a beautiful building of artwork. We walked along the Tiber down to the bridge leading to the Caslte of Santa Angelo. The bridges are all gorgeous, adorned with statues and sculptures. We crossed over to the other side and headed towards Vatican City. When we got to the city we took a rest to kind of take it all in and then we headed to the line...the line of all lines. We headed for St. Peter's Basillica! We waited and waited and waited...it was hot and crowded and packed as tight as our non-existant suitcases (har har har). We got to climb to the top of the basillica and see a breath-taking view of Rome. Then we entered the basillica and saw lots of dead popes...again probably slightly more meaningful if we were Catholic, but still very ornate and fantastic! After exiting the basillica we headed towards the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. You must realize this is 4 MILES of museum. Very beautiful...made me want to brush up on my art history. We really spent a lot of our time looking up at the ceilings. I can't even imagine the amount of time put into these ceilings (again hopefully pics will be coming soon)! We saw the original tapestry of The Lord's Supper. The Sistine Chapel was almost surreal. It was beautiful and elegant in its design. Michaelangelo (sorry if I butchered the spelling) is a genious in his work.

Time for the trek home. After some minor navigational errors (by Amanda...surprise, surprise) we made it to a quaint little Italian restuarante. I had baked lasagne (Mmmmmm) and Katie had a chicken salad (that was not so Mmmmm), but we finished it off with some baked creme...pretty much delicious and indescribable.

We got back to the hostel and finally our wishes came true! OUR LUGGAGE HAS BEEN FOUND, but we don't have it yet. So, we shall see how long that takes, but at least it is found. Amazing how as soon as they started paying each of us 53 Euros a day the luggage was quickly found...hmmm, a little shady.

Tomorrow we are headed out early to Florence for mid-morning to afternoon and then on to Venice where we will stay the night, spend and day and stay one more night! This is a side trip we planned while here :) Why not?

We love you! Thank you to those who have written comments! Ciao for now!

Amanda and Katie