We checked into the hotel last night.... Spent the evening hanging in the lobby and then bed check at 11.
Another early wake up day - 7:00am. Off and running by 8:30. We arrived in Rome center and began our day with a whirlwind tour of the Vatican museums...We saw tapestries, sculptures, and wonderful archictecture all within the walls of the Vatican. After the museum we entered Michelangelo's masterpiece, the Sistine chapel where we were all explained the history fothe paintings and the uses of the chapel now as a house of worship as well as the location of the Papal Conclave that takes place within 12 days of the death of the current pope, in order to elect a new Pope. After spending a while in the chapel we proceeded on to the most incredible church in all of Rome, St. Peter's Basilica where we saw the famous Baldacchino designed by Bernini, the may sculptures, Michaelangelo's incredible dome and his sculptural masterpiece, The Pieta. Once we left the Basilica we were able to see the famous Swedish guards in action escorting a special guest of the Pope through the crowd...very exciting then we entered the ever reconizable St. Peter's Square. After some lunch on our own around St. Peter's we hopped on the bus for a tour of the Coliseum and Roman Forum..... We were on awe of the incredible architecture and history of this historic area of Rome. After some free time in the area of the Roman "wedding cake". We boarded the bus once again for dinner. Saltimbocca and a tipical roman dish "cacio e pepe" (pasta with cheese and pepper).
Back to the hotel now.... for the evening and a day in Rome tomorrow.
I think a great picture would have been the kids versus the adults in a battle in the Colosseum. I would oddly expect Mrs. Maher to win because no one will hit the one with the cane. Today we share a story that is almost as beautiful (not really) as Italy itself. It is a love story (it's really not). We all walked into a hipster bookstore/cafe. It was filled with 20-somethings trying to write their memoirs while sipping on energy drinks and lattes. Howard saw a girl sitting in the middle of the cafe with a crown of leaves and old iPods on her head. He approached her, they talked and she agreed to have a date with him right there. She was an herbalist who did not believe in showers...at all...she used trashed Dove for Men bottles that were filled with dirt. Howard described her as a 4.7 on a scale of 1 to Bob Saget. In her tattered t-shirt for a band she made up, you could see her braided underarm hair. Apparently the hipster kind takes good care of that area of hair. She also had a tattoo in a Filipino language that she made herself. It was supposed to say "Life is a trash can", but Antoinette translated it as "I am a trash can." She also revealed that she was the princess of the hipsters and has to mate with a non-hipster to spread their genetics, steal his energy and lay her eggs. She would mate with her own kind be she said homologous mating is too mainstream. We ended up leaving Howard there and now he apparently has a YouTube channel with her where they rank the best sushi restaurants in the Upper East Side. Their children look like monsters with large glasses. WELL, I hope today's very imaginative story gave you a few laughs and we will hear from all of you guys soon. We miss you all very, very much!
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Abdul, Antoinette and Howard
OH! And I just heard that Stacie is feeling sick so we want to send our best get well wishes to her and hope she's still able to do everything possible with the rest of the group. Get better, buddy!
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