done in Europe

The time has come to get ourselves out of Europe and on to Africa. Rome is doing its best to bleed our wallets dry... today I sat down at a cafe and without thinking ordered "the big beer". Well, that turned out to be a 12 euro (16 CAD) 800ml beer. Fortunately it was pretty hot out and I was thirsty. It actually went down pretty nicely, and on an empty stomach it 'kept me entertained' for an hour or so afterwards. ;)

Rome has been fun, lots to see and many many miles to walk. We feel like our feet are worn down stumps on the ends of our legs. Yikes. The sights were pretty cool though. It neat to walk around a corner and unexpectedly find yourself facing some grand piazza with a towering fountain or obelisk in the middle. We saw the Vatican Museums (along with about 2 zillion other people. All at the same time. In a corridor wide enough for about 6 people across, and doors that admitted 2 at a time. Craziness). Also the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the ancient city (they're called ruins Eddy!), St Peter's square and the Basilica, plus a few other museums and churches. One of the best museums was the Museum of Roman Civilization, which was way out of town near the end of the subway line. It was almost deserted, and they had scale models of all kinds of Roman catapults, military camps, and best of all, a HUGE model of ancient Rome at its peak. I mean this thing was BIG: at least 50 feet across. It took up the whole floor of a large rectangular room, and you viewed it from one storey above on the mezzanine that ran around the perimeter. We were both very impressed. Oh, and that museum was free. Probably the only free thing in all of Rome, I bet!

Accomodation was adequate but not much for the price. Location pretty good. We got around on the subway a lot, which was a good deal at 11 euro for a 3 day pass (each). Food was hit and miss: had a GREAT pasta and pizza meal on day one, were a bit disappointed by the 'nice' meal we paid extra for two nights ago, and really disappointed by dinner last night, and then today was Burger King. Yeah, we got lazy and weren't in the mood to overpay for some mediocre food. And the wine... what's up with the cold red wine? That is too weird. I'm no wine snob, but even I don't like cold red wine! Tracey was particularly unimpressed, I think. We were hoping for better, since Venice was top notch for both wine and food the whole time we were there. Oh well, this city is obviously one big tourist trap, and for good reason. I've never seen any other place quite like it. The history here is ridiculous!

We're still hoping to post some pictures eventually, but I left the camera cables in our checked luggage, so again, not happening now. Maybe in Africa? How likely is that? We'll try.

cheers everyone! On to "Part Two" of the great adventure tonight!

cheers,
Mike and Tracey

BTW: we're not back from Safari until Oct 7th, so if you don't hear anything at all from us, don't be concerned until around the 10th or so. Then send someone out into the bush looking for the remains of our tent, squished by trampling elephants. Or lions, maybe. That would be cool. =)