Rome-ing around in the ridiculous heat

Apparently the secret to staying cool in the ridiculous Roman heat is 1/2 liters of ice cold white wine and pounds of gelato. As well as hiding out in bookstores, internet cafes and hotel lobbies.

Arrived in Rome yesterday and after jumping for joy for a few minutes, we went to our first hostel which immediately made us stop jumping. Really gross, really hot (were promised air con but no such luck, only a barely working fan) and the room was about the size of my foot. We dumped our stuff and set out to see the beautiful city of Rome (which is so much better than Florence its not even funny). We managed to make it to see the Colloseum, Roman Forum and the Victor Emmanuelle(sp) before we started feeling dizzy from the heat and had to head back to our hostal to take cold showers (or at least I did. Sari had to go to a town outside of Rome to pick up her lost passport, yikes). I felt sick all day because its over 100 degrees, and we tried to be such good sports about it but its very miserable here. Miserable, in Rome! It,s like an oxymoron. We did have a really wonderful dinner last night where a man seranaded us in Italian and Spanish. Everyone thinks we are Spanish and keep congratulating us on Campeones del Mundo! I miss Spain.

Today we moved to another hostal, going to check in there soon and hope they also weren,t lying when they said they have aircon as well. We checked out Vatican City, said a big hello to the Pope who was probably hanging out in aircon himself, and had a delicious margherita pizza and white wine at this little hole in the wall pizzeria. Tonight we are buying some paninis and heading to the Trevi Fountain as it gets dark, and a tiny bit cooler

We had originally planned on staying in Rome until Thursday but its so unbearable that we are attempting to change our plans and go to the coastal town of Rimini for the next few days, keep you posted on that.

A fun occurrance: yesterday, upon arrival of Rome, a very drunk man with the longest cigarette ash ever proceeded to push his pelvis against me on the sidewalk. I threw some choice words at him, but had to laugh. Welcome to Roma!

I really do love this city. The feel of it- its so welcoming and historical and you can walk EVERYWHERE. Not as many Americans and Australians here as were in Florence, that was unbelievable. I do like running into fellow travelers and sharing stories about where we have just come from, and where we are going. Most of the Australians I meet are traveling for over 6 or 9 months, its insane! I,m super glad and grateful to get the chance to do this, but it does take some getting used to. I felt very homesick for familiarity yesterday but that has since passed, which I am glad about.

Off to check out our hostal and enjoy Roma (and some more gelato, let,s be honest!)