honeymoon: rome

So we found out why nobody says, "Ahh, Rome" the way they do about Venice. Romans are jerks! Actually, that's a little harsh, but we sure found them to be at the lower end of the polite and accommodating-of-tourists scale.

Rome itself was pretty amazing though. When we were in France we'd been impressed by how old things were, dating back a few centuries, but in Rome the highlights date back two millenia. The first place we went when we left our stuff in the little s%$hole of a hotel we stayed (the Lonely Planet let us down big time here) was to the Colosseum and the Forum, and we wandered around a bit and had dinner.

The next day we headed for the Vatican, where we wandered around for hours looking at the museums, St. Peter's Square and Basilica, La Pietà by Michelangelo (both the original and the replica) and the Sistine Chapel. I'm not a Catholic, but it was hard to visit the Vatican and not be impressed by the influence this institution has had on the world. The Sistine Chapel in particular was something; it was hard to imagine Michelangelo painting all of these frescoes (okay, he had help) with all of their attention to detail, and being able to get the perspective on the curved ceilings just right; the way the frescoes are done, if they were flattened out they would appear distorted, but from below they look perfect.

After the Vatican, we spent some more time exploring the Forum before sitting down in a café for a pre-dinner beer and to read for a little while. (My feet were getting tired.) We then went to Osteria Dell'Angelo, which is owned by a retired rugby player (he had the cauliflower ears and everything) and had our best meal of the trip while discussing the rugby match between Canada and New Zealand the previous day. (Canada had lost.)

The following day we began to feel a little over-cultured, and also we were hot, so we took a train to the beach. This time we were swimming in the Tyrrhenian Sea. After an unbelievably crowded train ride home, we went to see, ahem, Meet the Robinsons because it was the only English movie in the air-conditioned theatre.

And the next day we went home.