Traveling Northward, to the Ancient City...

We spent the last day in Naples touring the actual city of Naples. Not much changed in my theories about the city. I still think it is pretty dirty, the food of course was good, but really not a great or enjoyable place to be overall ( and I really like cities abroad normally). We spent the beginning of the day traveling under a church to the catacombs and basically, the church was built on TOP of ruins, which was really cool to see. Later in the afternoon, we went to the Duomo, which is another famous church there, but pretty much didn't do too much in Naples.

We arrived at 9:31 at the ticket window in the Naples train station yesterday, and were on a train that left at 9:36. we knew the trains left often, but wow, we rushed right into one! it was great. I have realized that purchasing my Eurail pass was not worth it. I assumed the trips would be more expensive than they are, and so it seems I've wasted a fair amount of money on it. I'm not too worried, I am trying to keep in mind that I have a job when I get back, and to splurge since this is my graduation present to myself. However, divided out, the eurail pass costs 45 dollars per use. I have been spending 15-25. Oh well.

Upon arriving in Rome, I had booked an apartment, and got a great deal. The apartment is amazing, It sleeps four, with a full b athroom, full kitchen, and a living room. We are really enjoying the place. Go here to see the apartment http://www.lovelyhomeinrome.com/immagini.htm
(or to book a place if you're going to Rome)

On our way to the apartment though, we needed to get money out of an ATM, and every ATM we stopped at wouldn't take our cards. It was very frustrating. Later in the day we found working ones, but it was strange, since we've never had any problems before!

Once we arrived at the apartment, we took a walk to Vatican City, which is surprisingly close to the apartment, and spent a few hours there. We went into St. Peter's, and paid to walk to the top of the basilica. It was pretty cool. 551 steps later, and short of breath, we had quite the view of the Vatican City. We also walked around down through the city, went grocery shopping, had some dinner, and then waited at the apartment for a bit to meet up with Miles.

Miles is a friend of mine from home, and he met up with us last night and will continue traveling with me for a little over a week - Until Venice). He spent the whole day on the train reading about Rome, so he was like a walking encyclopedia. Today, I had some ideas of where I'd like to go in Rome, but nothing set in stone. Miles had a whole itinerary of where to go, and it was great! It was like having our own personal tour guide. But man, Miles has more energy than the other three of us combined. Austin caught a cold the first day we were in Naples, and now Jacob is starting to get sick. I am afraid that I might be next. So we had the two of them, both a bit under the weather, and my back was bothering me, but man, we could've each drank 3 espressos, and not been able to keep up! we walked around until about 5 when we headed back to the apartmnet exhausted. It was great though. We visited a lot of Ancient Rome. In the morning, we saw an obelisk that was originally from the circuis maximus (where the chariot races were held). We accidentally came upon an armed forces band, which was surprisingly good. We climbed to the top of the huge monument of Victor Emmanuel, and got some good pictures, and then into a square designed by Michaelangelo on the top of the Capitoline Hill, and into an art museum there. We then went to the Roman Forum, which is actually quite large (at least, larger than I expected). I learned a lot today in Roman history, culture and mythology. I think I must've slept through that part in high school...or maybe they didn't teach it. After the exhausting day, we came back to the apartment after grocery shopping, and made...surprise surprise...Pasta for dinner!! It saved us a bit of money though, we can't ever seem to find good inexpensive restaurants, or really too many restaurants at all!.

I need to head back to the apartment now in time to get some sleep for tomorrow's craziness!!
ciao!
Bela