all roads lead to rome

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the following was written yesterday but remained unpublished until today...

buonasera tutti,

ush and i left rome bright and early this morning, and arrived in florence about an hour ago...
thought we'd give you a brief update on our roman conquests.

after another back breaking trek from the train station, follwing directions, we ended up in a deserted street with no signs and no hostel in sight. we continued walking down, when this bariatric brazilian dude with a long hair (cigarette in one hand, beer in the other) calls out to us asking whether we were after the Mona Lisa Hostel (which we were). so we cross the street to find another scrawny blonde guy with a banjo in his hand sitting on a step. ush and i were initially less than impressed to find out that these wacky guys were the hostel staff. we then had to wait outside in the blistering italian sun while the hostel was being fumigated. two hours later, we finally got inside to find a rather cosy setup and our spirits were lifted slightly. by the end of the day though, we grew quite accustomed to our alternative staff as well as the other guests in the hostel.

they found out that it was ush's bday on thursday, so that night, everyone at the hostel pitched in and the brazilian guy cooked up a delicious vegetarian stroganoff. there were also drinks, salad, cake and ice cream. it was heaps of fun, but the highlight was probably when one of the other guests who was a professional opera singer got up and performed a special song to mark the occasion. it was absolutely incredible to hear opera from up that close! anyway, was a great night.

our second day in rome involved walking, walking and more walking... we saw the colasseum, the pantheon, the beautiful but overcrowded trevi fountain, and some spectacular roman ruins. but the absolute highlight would have to be the guided tour of the vatican city and st. peters basilica. we walked the paths of past and present popes up to the sistine chapel and found out many secrets and scandals of the vatican. too many to reveal now unfortunately.
our stay in rome concluded with a visit to the spanish steps, a known hang out for the young and frivolous.. we went with a few fellow hostel buddies, but didnt end up having a big night.. still recovering from munich (lol)

will post some pics later...

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