All Roads Lead Here
Well today was my last day in Rome. We’re leaving tomorrow to head for Venice. The train ride will be almost 5 hours, which kind of stinks, but there should be plenty of nice countryside to watch, and maybe I’ll get another book. The first day here I bought The Great Train Robbery, which I finished in one day (300 pages). I’m amazed at the number of bookstores here, but American English books are a little expensive: 12e for a paperback labelled at $8 U.S.
Anyway, I’ll be in Venice until Friday, when we’ll depart for Torino. Not a ton of time in Venice, but it will be nice to have a free day in Torino before I start (I check in with TOBO on Saturday night).
Today the weather was beautiful here. My only regret was bringing along my coat. We took the subway to Vatican City (plenty of pictures uploading). I know that Venice will be a bit cooler, but if it stays anywhere near this temperate, I will be very happy. One of the guys staying in our hostel had just come from Venice, and he recommended a hotel that is almost as cheap as a hostel, but he says it was very nice.
You’ll see a picture of my dinner tonight, which was great. After we ate, we came back here. Even though it wasn’t a very long day, I’m pretty tired, just because we’ve done so much walking. Nonetheless, it’s been extremely relaxing, especially compared to the last few days of school, and even the Olympics should still be very enjoyable. I just heard from Tyler last night, who is starting his shift today, and it sounds like we (Asbury students) might all be housed in the same building, which will be nice for when we have days off.
Notice that there are no pictures inside of the actual Sistine Chapel. They were prohibited, as was talking. The guards were constantly shushing people and reminding of the no camera rule. In fact, security in the Vatican was probably the stronger than that of an airport. I wasn’t allowed to bring in my (Tyler’s) laptop, which was in my bag, so I had to check the whole thing at the door (which was a barcoded system and the kindly labelled my bag, “Fragile”). There was at least one guard in every room and we went through at least 80 rooms.
I hope that everybody at home gets at least one day of weather as beautiful as in Rome today. Pictures will be done uploading later tonight, but I think I’m going to grab a slice of pizza before I head upstairs to finish!