First night in Rome

Ok, so I got a little behind with the entries. I have either been getting back too late or too tired to do them.

So while I was writing my last entry, I met a Colombian that was also staying at the hostel and that was also traveling by himself. Since I was feeling much more awake and wanting to go out and see things, I asked if he wanted to go out to eat. So we made our way downtown to the Colosseum metro exit, where a lot of good sites are and food. You exit the metro station, and bam there is the Colosseum. It was amazing. We walked down that main drag, passing the Palatine and Roman Forum which are right next to the Colosseum. We walked into a few of the churches we passed by, every one of them being very old and very beautiful. There are A LOT of churches in Rome, and if you ever come or have been here you would have noticed there really are not that many people in them either. If my tour guide from the other day was correct...there are 627 churches in Rome. Why you may ask? When the Catholic church started to really take control over the city (way, way back) they would build a church over most all of the pagan temples.
Anyway, then we went to one of the many Piazzas, found a sit down restaurant, and commenced eating. Javier, my companion for the evening, has been traveling on his own for about a month, speaks English, Spanish, and French! We happened to be sitting next to a pair of French ladies, so as we were waiting for our food he started to talk to them in French, and they could speak English as well which they did to include me in the conversation but they would slip back into French every so often. I had Penne alla Vodka con Proscitto, and we got a bottle of wine. It was fantastic! After dinner, we headed out to find gelato, which was the main priority on my list. They are pretty easy to find since they are everywhere. I ordered strawberry (fragola) and cream (creme) flavors, again, also fantastic and very tasty. We made our way towards the Trevi Fountain, one of the most famous fountains in Rome. People say if you throw a coin over your left shoulder into the Trevi, you will secure your return to Rome. It was very crowded, but I managed to find my way up to the front anyway. We then headed towards the Pantheon, which was just as breathtaking as seeing the Colosseum. There are many narrow alleyways which both people (and to my surprise) cars and motopeds come down as well. We emerged from an alleyway, and there was a piazza right in front of the Pantheon. It is so weird how the modern city buildings of Rome are right next to all of these sites, I guess I thought they would be separated at least a little. Nope! We were very tired, and had to catch the metro before it closed for the night, so we headed back to the hostel and we said our goodbyes as he was leaving in the morning.

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