Day 8 of 19 ... Rome, Italy

August 7th, 2008

Today we arrived in Rome.  I can't believe we're here! It is very exciting.  We checked into our tiniest hotel/apt. even getting our luggage up the tiniest elevator I've ever been in ... it was so interesting. It is so hot, so if you get too close to people, it can be a little stinky!!

We saw the beautiful Colosseum, The Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain and tomorrow we will briefly check out the Vatican city before departing for the airport.  Probably only have time to drive by it.  What a shame.

Rome has been very hot. Hard to walk around and explore when sweat is rolling down your face and back. But we worked it out and made sure we visited fountains for some fresh water. A lot of our conversations with people end up with discussion about why we're traveling. It has been just amazing to see the love and the blessings that we get from people with whom we tell that we are adopting. Their hearts just burst open with so much emotion and you can almost see their souls sing out about how wonderful adoption is in every aspect. The receptionist, Cynthia, at our hotel teared up when we told her. She was just so happy to hear it. She said, "Many days are not filled with good stuff here. So when you come here and tell me what you are doing ... it is a very good day for me." Oh! Just precious. And that is just one story. There were many more that I'll relay in the coming days.



The sun was setting so we were trying to get some good pictures in. We were trying to catch the moon just to the right of the Coliseum.










It was interesting because you leave a restaurant, turn the corner, then you see this! I'd imagined it different. Like I imagined it all on it's own out in the boonies where when you see it a symphony plays and angels float above your head. I'm not alone here, right?



It was beautiful, but I sure wish the huge ugly chain linked fence was not all around it.

We only have one night in Rome, so we're making the best of it. Our room in actually kinda cool cause it's so very old and is the tiniest room I've ever slept in ... ever! It makes me feel so far from home and like I'm really in Rome with the elevator, the building ... WOW!



How old are these cobblestones?





We emptied our things in the tiny room (it took a few trips up the teeny-tiny elevator) and then went walking to explore. Tons of people. We stayed about 2 miles from the Coliseum so we were walking distance from the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain and the Coliseum.





Trevi Fountain ... just amazing detail.


It was huge ... there was not enough room for me to take a picture of the entire fountain, so I googled this image.



There were probably 300 people right in front of us all taking pictures. All looking at it, and it was just so hot. So at least we got this photo with no one in it ... quite a miracle.

Smart cars everywhere.  I can see why though.  Parking is scarce, roads between buildings are slim if anything.  You can't really care about how your car looks cause it gets dinged up like crazy, many mirrors get torn off because of the way they drive here.  It's just crazy, man.  Worse than New York!!!




We wished we had our motorcycle here too!







Julio the hotel director at Hotel Posa Posa. He was such the gentleman and catered to our every need. This picture will remind us of the lovely guy that he is.




These were so small they could only fit an infant.



Tiny Smart cars can park diagonal or vertical...and they did.



So small, you just want to either take it for a walk or stick it in your purse!



Look how tiney these cars are.  Crazy!


We have limited access to internet (ie: out in front of a tiny cafe using the wi-fi to check out emails and some business stuff). And I'm glad I did because we got some news from our agency that I won't elaborate on that is a bit disappointing. We just want to complete this process for precious little "T". We have the utmost respect for Ethiopia, it's culture, country and process.



How cute are these Nuns eating gelato



The Vatican ... Home of the Pope
Vatican City is a city-state. It came into existence only in 1929. It is thus clearly distinct from the central authority of the Roman Catholic Church, known as the Holy See, which existed long before 1929. Ordinances of Vatican City are published in Italian. Official documents of the Holy See are issued mainly in Latin. The two entities even have distinct passports: the Holy See, not being a country, only issues diplomatic and service passports; the state of Vatican City issues normal passports. In both cases the number of passports issued is extremely limited.

I have to be honest here ... I was really thrown by what I saw. I mean, on one hand you have these ancient wonders of the world, then on the other hand you see graffiti and trash and just not a whole lot of respect. I don't know if the governement just doesn't care, or the people, but I was thinking you know ... with the Pope there and all, the Coliseum and these unbelievable sights that the people would have more respect for it. This is just my personal opinion ... I would have liked to see areas around these sights cleaner and clearly respected.

But to go to Rome, finally ... was just wonderful.