3/26/07 ** Day 2, Rome **

26/3/07, Monday (That's how they write dates here. Still getting used to it)

Today we started out a little later then we wanted. We got out of the
house right before 9 AM. We wanted to get to the Colosseum at 9 (yea
right!)

This second day Chianne and I were on our own. The first day, we had
Sandy shows us around. Before walking towards our bus stop, you know
what people say, "When in Rome, do what Romans do (or Italians)." So
we stopped by a local cafe place and ordered an espresso (well, I
cheated and added milk and 5 deals' of sugar), actually its called a
cafe latte. The coffee here is soooo much better then Starbucks. We
also scarfed down a pastry called a cornetta. That sure made our
morning. From what I understand, this is very typical here in Italy.

Our plan today was to check out the Colosseum, Pantheon, and one
museum. The minute we hit the Colosseum, those plans hit the fan.
There was so much to see in just this one site.

At the Colosseum, we were able to jump to a faster line since we
already pre-bought our tickets (3 day pass, high recommended to save
time and money). Then we piggybacked on a tour with a guide. All the
stuff you watched in the Gladiators was pretty on, except the thumb
voting thing. If the people wanted to keep the competitor alive, they
would tuck their thumb in in one hand, like a fist and chant, "Live,
live, live." or thumbs down and say, "Kill, kill, kill!"

The Colosseum can house 55,000 people at one. It took them 8 years,
70,000 slaves, and 17 miles of travel (from the quarry) to build this
awesome Colosseum. To this day, only 40% of the original structure
exists. The Colosseum floor was covered with wood, for trap doors to
release either animals or gladiators to be more dramatic, "Are you not
entertained!!!" On top of those floors was sand to absorb the blood
from the fights. Most, if not all the bouts were rigged. If they
wanted the animals to win, they would starve them to make them more
aggressive and hungry. If they wanted them to lose, they would be
drugged, or injured. The same with the gladiators, maybe give them
weak weapons that would break on impact or drug them all the same.
Don't want to get into too much detail.

We then cruised the Forum and Palentine Hill. The Forum was like a
strip mall where everyone hung out. They had commerce, and talks, and
gatherings, etc. About 90% of all the structures are gone. You can
only see bits and pieces of what was there. Artists in books have
completed the picture of what it looked like when it was completed.
Palentine Hill was like the Hollywood of their time. Anyone who was
anyone was there. They had different kinds of swimming pools back in
the day. There were cold water pools, warm water pools, and saltwater
pools, all on the same site. Back in the day, everything was covered
in marble. After Rome was defeated, everything was looted and now all
you can see is the skeletons of the structures and some pieces of
marble laying around.

The next place we went was the Trevi Fountain. This was very nice and
very romantic. If you throw a coin in it, it means you'll be back. I
asked a local vendor for change from 2 cents. She looked at me like,
"What a cheap skate!" Well, throwing money in a fountain really isn't
that good of an investment.

Then we walked up the Spanish Stairs. It's the staircase to the
oldest Embassy in Italy. I almost got into a fight with a dude that
stuck a flower in front of Chiannes face. I swung his arm away, and he
didn't like that too much. He was lucky I wasn't alone. It's a long
way down the stair case. The street people here sure are aggressive
(vendors and beggars alike).

I would get more into detail, but I'm really tired. I'll post the
pictures and videos when I get back. If you are interested, you can
check them out.

Tomorrow, we are planning to see the Vatican and hang out with the
Pope, go to the Pantheon, and what every looks good in the book, time
willing.

We are being more realistic and knowing we are going to wake up at 9
AM, instead of trying to wake up at 7AM. We are also limiting our
places to see. There is no way you can do Rome in a day. Till next
time.

BTW, we are using the Rick Steve's book as our guide. Check out his
website. It's really helpful.

Ciao!

+Johnson & Chianne

3/25/07 ** Day 1, Rome **

Hi,

It's Chianne and I.

Some people say we're living the dream. We're only living the dream
when we're going to and staying at the best place AVAILABLE, not the
best POSSIBLE (limited to finances).

Italy is so rich in history, Roman Catholic churches, culture, food,
and everything in between. To send a picture is like sending a 1"x1"
piece of the Mono Lisa and saying this is what it's like. We've only
been here one day, effectively, and we've only scratched the surface
of a Boeing 747 (which we took to get here). I found out that going
to Italy, you must accept that you have to come back to get, only yet
another, small taste of what Italy really is all about. Different
towns, different culture, different everything.

Today we took a quick tour of some of the churches & ruins, ate, and
walked (a lot). Freak, if you're going to come visit, you best be in
shape. Here's a list of what we had on our plate today:

St. Maria Maggiore (Basilica)
Jesuites (Gesu, Jesus)
St. Andrew's delle valle
ate pizza at Piazza Orologio
visited a friends (Sandy's) school
Pza Navona
St. Augustine (Caravagio Monica)
Pza-del Popolo
Villa Borgnese

We've seen relics of some saints; St.Andrew's hand, Jesus's manger,
sculls, whole bodies, etc. For me, it made those saints more real,
more human, and Divine. If I could, I would of hired a person to walk
us through each scene of each place we've passed by. Even in one
place we could spend the whole day just reading and understanding each
scene. I took some video & pictures and plan on posting them on line
when I get back. I only have 7 hours of taping available and 3 gigs of
picture space, so you really won't get the full experience.

Friends, Henry & Sandy, even though they're going to be here 1 year
(or more) before they come back home, they too haven't sceen it all.

At any rate. It's almost 3 AM here, and I can't afford to be the
night owl like I am back home. Need to wake up in 4 hours to get the
most of Italy. Rick Steve says, "Each hour you sleep in is like $12/hr
your wasting in Italy." I have no clue what that means but it sounds
too expensive to me.

Tomorrow, we plan on looking in on the Colosseum and all it's
surrounding sites (or at least all that we can possibly do). Fired
up! I'll keep you posted on what's going on over here. If you don't
care, just reply. I won't be hurt.

God bless. We'll see you soon.

Through Him,

Johnson R. Hipona
408-449-9600
JohnsonJr@GMail.com