When in Rome...

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I have once again covered allot of Ground since the time of my last entry, at which time I I was just getting ready to leve the sunny and warm french riviara, for the suprisingy cold and wet italy. I arrived in the city of Florence at about 700 in the mourning, very tired and disorieanted after a 9 hour night train ride: It took me a couple of minutes to figure out what was going on when some one opend the dore to the train coach and staretd yelling "frienza" once i figured it out I had to quicky break camp pack up my few strew possions and hustle off the train before it took off for its next destination. About an hour later of walking through the rain I found the hostle, checked in, froped off my baggs and then headed right back out, and wandered around the city till about 2, when i finally was abole to get back to my room and take a nap. Florence is a beautiful city, jam packed with art. One squar in particular had a huge number of great statues, like the rape of the sabian women, Perssius holding the slain head of medusa the gorgen, a copy of Michellangelos david and my favorit of the bunch, hurcules and the centrur. I Do have pictures of all of these but i think that im just to technologiclly challenged to figure out how to get them up, espessialy on a forgin keboard.

over my four days in florence I saw other great works and musums full of amaxing art. Bottachellies "birth of Venus" Michelangalos "Bhaccus" and "david." I saw the great Duemo cathedral, looking out over the city from its balcony and saw the baptismal where dante was baptized. It was a very good four days.

And now I am in Rome, a city that owned most of the known world at one point, and has a histtory that straches back so far it really hasent sunk in. Just walking around the city is like strolling through a museum, the place so full of antiques that they just leave them lying in the streets. As I was just wondering around, trying to find the pantheon, I stumbelled across the ruins of a temple that dates back to 107 B.C. and that is not a strange occurence. The coloum of trajen amd the trajen markets are just a short walking distance form the coloseum, where the gladiators fought and died for the entertainmet of others. Today i took a tour of the vatican city, whcih was made its own independent country back in the 1930s ( I think thats the right date) and Is an immenstly powerful and rich country for being so small. Its a good thing that I paid for the tour as well, Apperently if you were to take 30 seconds toexamin each piece of art it would take you 12 years to get through the vatican museum...

another Good sight was the church of immaculet conception, which has been decerated with the bones of 40000 monkes who were burried in the churches old location and moved in 1760, room upon room is filled with these bones, lining the walls and celings, arches made of bones, even chandelliers. And in the last room is a plaque which reads, "what you are now we once were, what we are now you soon will be." its a very chilling reminder of mortality and the frailness of human life.

I think the next stop is vennice, but in all honesty nothing is set in stone. I will bee in rome for 3 more nights, and ill figure it out somewhere in there.

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Photos

jimmyjames vs the boxer
this is one of my favorit statues; the seated boxer

the pantheon
would have been co much cooler if it was still a temple to the old gods of rome

not just a ninja turtle
we werent supposd to take pics but evey one was and the security gaurds didnt seem to care