{This is a post from my travel journal that I kept while on our 3 week tour of Europe in 2001. I thought it would be fun to compare our 2017 trip to Italy with the one we took 16 years ago. In retrospect, I am SO glad I kept track of our trip - even though it may not be as thorough as it would be if I was writing it today!}
May 16, 2001
Today was another day of travel. We went from Nice to Rome. For most of the way, we sat with girls who had studied in Spain since January. The one girl made it a point to put a Spanish accent on everything she said. It was really ridiculous, especially when she said, "Fanta." Anyway, we finally got to Rome and we were approached by a man from the tourist office. We were skeptical at first, but then we realized he was from the office and he didn't want any money up front. So, he suggested a place and we went to look at it. It seemed a little odd, but we took it anyway and it turned out to be fine. After dinner, which took forever to find a place, we took a walk around the town. We were trying to find Piazza Navona, which is supposedly the place to be. We didn't find it, but saw some neat parts of the city anyway. It is really amazing how the ruins are just there in the middle of a big city like that. We also found some ruins that were turned into a cat sanctuary. And, there really were cats there.
May 17, 2001
We walked the city of Rome today. It is an amazing city and it is impossible to see it all in one day. We first went to the Colosseum. We went in and walked around and climbed the horrible steps to the top. The floor is no longer there so you can see the old tunnels that are underneath. You can take a tour with an archaeologist for about $3 extra, but the next one didn't leave for a while so we didn't take it. We then walked to the Vatican and what a walk that was! It's so hot and muggy in Rome that it made the walk seem much worse I'm sure. But, once we got there, we realized it was so worth it. The place is truly amazing. There's really no way to describe the place and how beautiful it was. I'm sure our pictures won't do it justice either. It's something you really just have to see! We took a taxi to the train station because our feet were about to fall off. We checked the times for Venice and then shopped around for a while. We walked back to the hotel and took a nap because we were exhausted. When we woke up, we shopped for a while and then had dinner at an Irish pub. After that, we sat out at a cafe and Tommy had some wine and I had an espresso, which is what everyone drinks there as coffee, but it is as thick as oil- the sugar just sits at the top of the coffee. It was strong, but good. Although, I'm pretty sure it caused me to sleep horribly through the night!
