When in Rome...

Well, I'm in Rome, in a lovely hotel room. Everything has been going swell.

We arrived in Rome yesterday, after a painful, long plane ride complete with bad plane food and no sleep. Rochelle and Fidelia both had their luggage lost, and Christine's flight got delayed and she had to fly later (she arrives tomorrow). So we got here, mostly in one piece, a few things forgotten, but mostly successful.

The gang all went to their appartment from the airport, while I went to my hotel (really nice, by the way) and Jordan to his hostel (not very nice, but a hostel's a hostel!). Then we all went out to dinner. It wasn't much of a day, but it sure felt chaotic.

Today was more exciting. We started off the day (at noon!) by going to the cafe across the street, where I got to show off my Italian while the barrista answered all my questions in English. woo! Next we went to La Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. It was absolutely gorgeous. It's been a few years, I know, but I think it's the nicest church I've ever been to, which makes me completely unable to imagine what St. Peter's will look like. However, my curiosity has only to wait until tomorrow, when we're all heading to the Vatian!

After that, we all waited at the appartment for Fidelia to get her luggage, and when it finally arived (2 hours late) we all headed out for a stroll to the Colliseum and Roman Forum. I mean, really, how often can you say that? It's completely impossible to describe how big the Colliseum is in words or pictures. You simply must see it for yourself. We took forever just taking pictures of the outside (it having closed already). The Roman Forum was also totally amazing. I cannot imagine how anyone could have built the Basilica Constatino. It's simply too big to have been made by people.

Then we strolled back to the appartment in time to meet Barb, and then found a little shop and bought some pasta etc. for our dinner. The whole thing cost 9.50 in euros. For seven of us. It would have been great, but we forgot to buy spices. So it was pretty much tomato and vegetable mush over top of noodles. But you know, live and learn.

And that's about all. It's been great being here in the off season. The weather's reasonable (like how Edmonton was in October) and it's not very crowded ever. So all in all, my time in Rome has so far been amazing, and I still can't really believe that I'm here.

I miss you all! Happy January in Edmonton!
Love Kori