Rome

Our next stop after London was Rome. There's much that could be said about this city, which was at one time time the heart of a vast political empire, and is the heart of the Western church to this day. Because of its history, the city manages to juxtapose the ancient, the medieval, the Renaissance-ian (?), and the modern in a strange way. As you walk through central Rome, you'll see the Coliseum, the Pallatine Hill, and the Pantheon, and then you'll see contemporary apartment buildings and restaurants, interspersed with myriads of ornate churches. As I walked through the streets, I had a similar feeling to browsing a large, unorganized antique store. The lack of cleanliness only augmented this sense. Rome feels like the collection of some imperial pack-rat.
I know this sounds like a pretty drab view of one of the most popular cities in the world. Rome is still an amazing place- don't get me wrong. We got a very cool tour of the Coliseum and the Pallatine Hill, the site of the ancient imperial palaces and the supposed birthplace of Rome where Romulus started the first colony. The Coliseum was an impressive sight, but it paled in comparison to the Pallatine Hill. Even though most of the hill's palaces are in ruins, you can use your imagination to fill in the gaps. These palaces were immense, not only in length and breadth but also height. At one point there stilll stands intact a section of the first-floor wall. It stands as high as the tall trees that surround it. There would have been two other floors of the same height on top of this first floor. It's really amazing to think about. The picture above is Pallatine Hill.
These were the two pieces of ancient Rome that we spent the most time on.
Near the Pantheon there is a popular plaza called Piazza Navona. It's known for its tratorrias, which are a type of Italian restaurant. We went there for dinner twice. The side streets leading into it have good Italian food for good unemployed college graduate prices. Margherita pizzas are the way to go if you're buying on a budget. It's a thin-crust pizza with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese. One is enough to fill you up.
I will add more to this post later. It's 5:44 AM right now. I'm using a free computer in our hostel in Krakow, Poland. In two hours we're getting on a bus to zakopane, John Paul II's favorite hiking spot. Farewell!