Rome!!

Ciào!

Today, for the second day, Brooke and I woke up for a lovely breakfast at the hotel while Kiley slept in like the lazy girl she is. We were forced to bring her breakfast in bed... what a deal. It was time to check out but it was also raining which made it a fun walk to the train station. Quite hilarious to walk behind Kiley and her rocket backpack as I like to call it.

Took a short 4 hour train to Rome and sat next to the cutest little German family with 2 boys who could not stop staring over at us. We blew a few kisses to them. We got to Rome and managed to find our hostel, The Funny Palace, where the owner showed us how to work all 5 keys on our keychain to get into the place. Free internet is included so hopefully we will be able to send a few more emails tomorrow.

By the time we got here and checked in, it was already 5:30 so we made our list of places to see and went on our way. We began with Piazza Navona which is a great shopping, eating and arts square. The streets were lined with local artists displaying their watercolors, oil paintings and sculptures. Live music at every corner including a classical guitar, violins, and an adorable old man lipsynching to opera. Brooke and Kiley caught the eye of a street vendor who asked them to stick out their pinkies while proceeding to loop string around their pinkies and braid a bracelet for them. We said we had no money but he insisted so we ended up getting free bracelets out of the deal... even though he asked us for €100 for each. We were starving so we decided to grab a bite at a restaurant called Caffe Domiziano and ordered pizza and calzone. You would think we would be losing weight with all of the walking but no worries, we make up for it by eating lots of pizza, pasta and gelato.

After dinner, we explored the streets stopping by the Pantheon which was completely under renovations and slightly disappointing. Also we stopped by Trevi Fountain which was extremely crowded but such a pretty view at night. Finally, we went to the Spanish Steps where we took a few pictures and sat on the steps while enjoying the beautiful streets of Rome.

After a long day, we headed home, jumped on the computer and are about to go to bed. We miss you all very much and love you all!!

A few notes to add to the last blog: Kiley also mailed stuff home, she just stuck it in my box... so no worries Cheryl, Kiley is still the same daughter you sent with us! : )

Good night All!
-Whitney