Rome #1

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We are out of Milan ... thank god.

We hopped a train to Rome in hopes of acquiring some sort of Canadian identity for Jay. The first night in Rome was quiet as we had spent the previous night in the airport and most of that day running around trying to sort things out.

Fully refreshed after a good 12 hours of sleep, we went out in seek of Canadian soil. The embassy was only about a half hour walk from our hostel and it took us through a nice suburban area of the city. The people at the embassy were actually very helpful. There were no trays of timbits or back bacon as I had hoped but it did almost feel Canadian. It only took about 2 hours, 10 forms and 100 euros before we were out of there with the promise of a new passport within 2 weeks. It was later in the day now so we grabbed some food and wine and headed back to the hostel to unwind. There was a diverse crowd that night, including a US Army battle captain on leave from Iraq, so we had a good night discussing (to be polite) American politics and the upcoming election.

The next day we went out to see some of the sights Rome has to offer. You have to start at the Coliseum so we headed there first but having no camera we decided not to pay the money to go inside just yet. From there we walked around the rest of ancient Rome which is incredible for it's density of ruins and active archeological sites. After that we got ourselves lost on purpose as we crossed the Tiber into a less touristy area of the city. Rome is definately a more beautiful city if you get off the beaten path.

This visit was short and we didn't worry about running around to all the sights because we knew we had to come back for the passport. That night we pegged the Amalfi coast as the perfect spot to go relax for a week so the next day we headed off for the small village of Minori just south of Naples.

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