Ciao Bella!

Sorry for the delayed posting...we had a jam-packed weekend! We saw everything there was to see in Rome in 2 days, which means I am definitely ready for a foot massage when I get home. Any volunteers?

Tomorrow, we make our final presentation to the Leipzig Eagle's Basketball team. Say a little prayer for us that we get rest tonight and do our best tomorrow. We have worked hard - now we're ready to WOW them with what we've found! We'll post some highlights of the presentation later.

And now, a preview of the Rome post to come!

raspberry and chocolate.

the forum.

Highlights: Gelato. Oh, and the history was amazing too... :)

Lowlights: Rome may have some of the worst bathrooms and smelliest men. Yuck.

But overall, the trip was incredible and Rome is definitely my favorite place I've ever traveled to! Look forward to more pictures soon.

3 days. Then home.

Love yall,

Sylvia

Beachside in Berlin, then Rockin' in Roma

Thursday morning we had a much needed restful morning, then we set out for Berlin!

Upon arrival, we navigated the massive underground system to find our awesome 1 star hotel, and then to see a few new sites in Berlin.
To our amazement, we discovered our new favorite place! We went to the East Side Gallery, which is a 2 Kilometer stretch of the Berlin Wall left intact, but now artists have been commissioned to paint on different parts of it. It is really cool!

But...the best thing we found was behind the Wall, along the river. Someone brought in a ton of sand, and set up a beach front type area. There was lawn chairs and food and drinks galore!

Sylvia and I sat and enjoyed the people, good music, and evening atmosphere along the river for a while, but then realized that we needed to go back to the real world

We grabbed some Calamari and Pommes for dinner...
And headed back to get a good night's sleep before our 4am morning wake up call to get to the airport on time.

Friday

So I'm going to give a basic rundown, with a lot of pictures, because that's the best part!

4:20AM, leave our hotel to catch the series of public transportation vehicles that eventually reach the airport which is only 4 Kilometers away.

Anyways we reach the airport a little over an hour later, grab some breakfast and settle in to wait for our flight at 7.

9:00AM Arrive in Roma!

11:00 Set out to see the sites, we began, of course, at the Colosseum.



After this we grabbed an over-priced, yet tasty, pizza lunch from a local vendor and set out to explore Palatine Hill and onto the Forum.

The Arch of Constantine

Palatine Hill

Part of the Roman Forum

The lofty history accompanying these three sites alone is incredible. I feel like I should have someone from the discover channel, preferably with a British accent following me around explaining every rock that is placed "just so, because of this or that," but maybe that's why some people pay for tour guides.

Gotta love all the FREE and tasty water in ROMA!

Either way, the whole area was incredible

After The Forum, we took a long walk over Capitol Hill, and down the other side, stopping for our first, but not last Gelatto!We hit the Pantheon next, with it's amazing design, and breathtaking frescos, and everything else! Don't worry, we grabbed another Gelato near the pantheon.


Next, I dragged Sylvia on a little personal quest of my own, We went to see my alltime, out of the way, favorite Roma Attraction, the Church of Santa Maria Della Vitoria. It's a Tiny Church filled with works by Bernini!

The Ectasy of St. Theresa, Bernini
read Angels and Demons Lately?

Watermelon snack on the way to the churches
Another amazing Santa Maria Church
We had dinner with some Jen, Josh, Brad and Phillip in the Campo di' Fiori at a Pizza place, then headed for a night walk across Roma.

First, Piazza Navono
Then,Four Rivers Fountain in front of the Pantheon
The Trevi Fountain
Spanish Steps
and We Finally dragged our tired and dirty feet back to our hostel for an some sleep!