Italy: Day 2, Part 1

Okay, this is straight from my journal so it's written a little weird. I decided not to clean it up because I wrote it on the ground in Rome and I kind of like that journal entry/diary type thing. Here goes:

Man, what a long day. Matt and I didn't sleep much on the plane (shocker, I know...) and are exhausted. I've been wearing the same clothes now for about 36 hours and am looking forward to bathing tonight. I haven't figured out how that's going to work yet. Details to come.

We got to Rome about 9:00 a.m. local time and got a shuttle to the hotel with another girl from our group, Ashley, from Canada. She actually likes socialized healthcare (shudder). We couldn't check in to our hotel room until noon so we went out into the city in search of cappuccino and breakfast. And an ATM - we just had dollars and needed Euros since most places don't take credit cards.

After the ATM, we went to a little deli close to our hotel and experienced our first food awkwardness over pressed sandwiches of ham and cheese and cappuccinos. Note to self: I still don't like coffee in any form. Bitterness just isn't my thing. Note to travelers: English is not a universal language.

Once we were "refreshed," we walked around a bit and saw some of the sights close to the hotel - Hotel Noto. Just up the street was the National Museum of Rome (which we never went in because the entrance was quite elusive) and the Basilica San Maria delgi Angeli. We couldn't go in the church because Ashley had on a skirt above her knees, but the grounds were beautiful. Instead of covered parking the way we think of it, their parking spots were covered with some type of vine. See here:

The front of the Basilica is below. It hard for me to imagine that a city thrives around all those centuries and centuries old buildings. But proof is everywhere.

Across the street was a huge fountain. I don't know the name and it isn't of significance on the maps, but it was pretty darn neat.

After seeing a few more of the local sights, we went back to the hotel to check in. Then we crashed. For two hours. On very small and hard beds. Yep, beds - plural. Because the stairways and hallways are so narrow in most of Italy, the beds are twin sized. As in like four feet wide and six and half feet long. And two inches thick. To make a double bed, they just push the beds together. Oh, and the air conditioning didn't seem to work. Joy.

After napping, Matt took a shower and got the whole bathroom, except for about two square feet of ceiling, wet. No matter though, there was no other way. It's hard to keep a bathroom dry when one takes a shower with no shower curtain.

Next up: Italy Day 2: Part 2 where we meet up with our tour group and explore the city by night!