When in Rome

Justin and I are currently in Rome.

When I left you all in Fussen, Germany.... we hopped on a train to Salzburg the next day.

We had a lovely train ride and we looked up all the necessary information for the trip in our handy Rick Steve's guide on the train. We stopped off at the tourist office and got tickets (with a student discount) for that night and then bought a Salzburg tourist card (with a student discount) and then headed off for the bus to Moosstrasse.... where a lot of cheap B & B's are.... We got on the bus with no problem and got off at just the right stop... I was feeling really Euro savvy at this point and all of a sudden... I hit a curb, rolled my ankle and fell flat on my face. Normally I would have recovered from a jilt such as this, but when one is carrying a 50 lb backpack... one cannot typically recover once they have started to fall. I pretty much looked like a bug on its back due to my heavy pack and Justin had to help me up. Justin was so concerned that I needed medical attention he didn't even have the foresight to take a picture. I was laughing so hard that I was almost crying. I skinned my knee and my ankle was pretty sore the next day, but I guess the Euro travel god's had to humble me a bit.

We cleaned up (as much as one can when they live out of a backpack) and we went to Schloss Mirabell and saw a trio concerto with a piano, violin and cello. They played Beethoven and MOzart and I have to tell you all that it was a dream come true to be able to see that in Austria.

The next day we rode all around Salzburg and saw Mozarts Residence and Birthplace.

We also saw the fortress above the city and .... you guessed it... we took a river tour. We did 40 Euro worth of things for 21 euro and so that was good. Salzburg is very touristy though I must say that we never had a bad meal (though the german dialect and food is just different enough that my menu reading skills reduced to about 5% of the menu vs 20% in Germany). The food there was phenomenal and you couldn't order something bad if you tried. I had a wonderful tomato, mozzerella and pesto bready goodness and loved it even though I don't like tomatoes!!! Justin and I relied heavily on the schnitzle and it never disappointed. I will say that it was incredibly hot and I think Justin and I pushed it just a schmidge to hard in Salzburg. It was hot and humid and every where we went we were either surrounded by a tour group of children or asians.... you think I'm kidding but I'm not. Two asian tourists have taken pictures of me.... I have no idea why... maybe because I'm so tall. I just smile and pose :) By the end of our tourists journey... we ended at the top of a fortress on top of the hill and had a beer and headed down the escalator with .... you guessed it... the asian tourist group and went to our B&B to take a cold shower and relax.

Our B&B was on an old dairy farm and was a fantastic get away after a hot day in the city.... the breakfast was amazing and it was so nice to get out of town after a big day of siteseeing.

The next day we caught the train to Rome, but we stopped off in Venice for 3 hours. It has been another dream of mine to ride on a gondola in Venice... but after realizing that this dream would cost 80 euro, I settled for a ferry ride for 13 euro. Regardless of the boat.... we rode through the grand canal to St. Mark's Cathedral and thus fulfilling another dream. We just had enough time to take a few pictures and do a little exploring. The pidgeons(sp) were pests! They were jumping all over people (I have pictures) and some Venetian boys would throw food and the birds would go CRAZY.... it was hilarious.

St. Mark's square was amazing and gorgous, but very crowded. Justin and I got outside the square and walked around a bit and we got quite a feel for Venice's appeal. With no cars.... it's very quiet and I was sad that I didn't get to stay longer. Because of our Eurorail pass, we kind of had to make a quick stop in Venice, but it was lovely while it lasted.

We got into Rome at 9PM and trekked over to our hotel.... which.... I'm not going to lie is right on a freeway exit outside of the center of town, but it has AC, it's safe and the price is right and so I'm not going to complain. Our front desk clerk I have decided is certifiably crazy and 'toys' with us everytime we ask him a question, but he's not mean and he's actually quite helpful and speaks wonderful english, which is good, since we know no italian. We are a 10 minute subway ride from downtown Rome and today we took the metro to the Collosseum exit and took the stairs out of the metro and I almost sqealed again... I can't believe that I actually saw the collosseum in real life! We took a quick tour and ended up wandering the rest of the grounds with our travel buddy, Mike, who had a great guide book and a little bit more Rome savvy then us.

I had some authentic pizza for lunch and Coca Cola Light. Rome is wonderful, because you can wonder around and just run into the most gourgous architecture. It is a city and quite bustling, but Justin and I are loving it (though this is the first time we broke out the money belt). We reserved our train ticket to Cinque Terra and we'll end our vacation there....

Currently we're doing laundry as Justin was out of socks and I think I had some bacteria ecosystems growing on some of mine. Justin went over next door and had a beer and I think we'll end the day with a late dinner at a nearby restaurant.

We hope to see the Vatican tomorrow, but we're kind of winging Italy since we have no Rick Steve's to help us through this country :) It rained all morning and then it was hot and humid in the afternoon.... probably what it will be tomorrow, but hopefully it will thin out the crowds in the morning for our Vatican visit since I have to wear sleeves and/or pants or that's the rumor anyway.

I hope this entry/email finds everyone doing well. Thanks for all your tips and responses.... it's good to hear from everyone.

Love, Paige and Justin