Italy

Well, we made it to Venezia! Of course not without a bit of an adventure though...

We got to the train station this morning shortly after 10am. We were hoping to catch the 10:37 train to Venice, but it was full and required a reservation. So we went ahead and made reservations for the 11:27 train. 15 Euros later...we had our seats ensured. We got on the train and sat with a friendly couple from Toronto. The train ride was about 3 hours and we got into Venice around 2:30. We had to walk about 10 minutes to get to the bus stop and realized we had just missed the bus by about 3 minutes. Normally, this wouldn't be an issue, but being Sunday (or Festivo..whatever that means!) the bus only came once each hour. So we took off our bags and sat at the stop waiting for the next bus. Just over an hour later, our bus came around the corner. I made some smart remark about how "funny it would be if the bus didn't stop". And it didn't. So, in disbelief, we broke out in a bit of nervous laughter and sat back down! Apparently, we discovered, you have to almost jump in front of the bus and wave your hand if you would like it to stop. So, one hour later, Kerry did just that! The bus kindly stopped and on we got. Kerry's handy phrasebook helped us figure out which stop we were supposed to get off at, but not after asking a lady who spoke neither English nor Italian, but had a great deal to say in whatever language she was speaking.
We made it off at the right stop and found our place shortly after. It's a very nice place, actually more like a bed and breakfast than a hostel -- we have our own private room with private full bathroom, a shared kitchen, free laundry, limited free internet use and breakfast is included.
Tonight we're planning on having a low-key evening; the bus stop is a 30 second walk away, so we might bus into town, explore a bit and then probably call it an early night. We only get 20 minutes of internet/day, so we won't be on much.
Anyways, hope to write again tomorrow. Talk to you soon.
Ciao for now, Kerry & Kristin

p.s. The weather is actually nice here! sunny and very warm! now you can be jealous! woooot woot

Sorry for the late update! It's been a very busy (and eventful!) two days, and we didn't get a chance to tell you about our Day 3 adventures...
So yesterday we did the Colliseum and the Roman Forum. WOW is the simplest way to describe it! We took the metro, and as we walked out the station, we were greeted by the Colliseum right in front of us across the street. We were able to skip the lines to get in by buying our ticket down a couple blocks at the entrance to the Roman Forum, where there was no line, (thank you Rick Steves!) We went with two awesome girls that we had met the day before (both from the Vancouver area as well) so it was really fun to be able to hang out with some other people.
None of us were too excited about the Roman Forum, and figured it would be a few piles of ruins overgrown with grass. Were we ever wrong! It was amazing. Absolutely amazing. I won't even try to describe it to you, so you'll just have to wait until we get some more pictures up. (which may be a while...we just got into Florence; our hostel doesn't have internet and it costs over €4 for one hour...that being said, we won't be on much for the next couple of days) We spent a few hours exploring the ruins, and then left to meet up for lunch with one of the girl's we were with, stepmom and brother.
We went to this little restaurant hidden in a little alley about 15 minutes away from the Colliseum and 5 minutes from the Pantheon. It was delicious! And I was quite proud of myself...I tried a traditional Roman dish, OX-TAIL in a tomato sauce! It was actually very good and tasted a bit like stewing beef, though it was next to impossible to get it off the bone/cartilage, so I ended up picking it up and eating it with my hands which consequently somehow resulted in sauce all down the sleeve of my white (and only) sweater. I complemented it with a plate of roasted red peppers in oil and seasonings. The meal was mucho bene! Kerry had a plate of ravioli which was incredible as well. I would highly recommend the restaurant, it was fantastic (thank you Rick Steves again!)
Overall though, it was a long day...we left around 10:30 and didn't get home until after 7. Shortly after 9, we did a night walking tour of the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain. They were beautiful too.
Anyways, my internet time is just about to expire. We might get a chance to get on again while we're here in Florence, but there's a good possibility it won't be until we reach Venice (which will be on Sunday) Hope all is well back home, and we're starting to miss everyone..a little bit! Write again soon.

xoxo

oh and just an interesting side note that I know Mom wanted to know... gas in Rome was €1.31/litre! So no complaining about the $1.25 back home!

So today was pretty much amazing.
Kristin and I got up at the crack of dawn aka 8:00am for breakfast and then left for "La Piazza Reppublico", where we were meeting up with a tour group to see the Vatican. We saw the Pope and toured the Vatican city, including The Sistine Chapel and St.Peter's Basilica. Our tour guide's name was Tad ( he introduced himself as either Rad Tad or Tadpole...goodtimes), and he was pretty entertaining and informative. We learned a great deal about Renaissance and Baroque periode art (Kendall and Ash you would have died!) and then we walked through the various corridors and chapels that make up the Vatican city.
There are not even words to describe what we saw today. I wouldn't even know where to begin to explain to the beauty of the art we saw. The Sistine chapel, the Basilica and well... the entire city, was breathtaking. Kristin and I barely spoke the entire time we were there, we were so enraptured with what we were seeing.

Before we even got inside however, We went at 11 am this morning to St.Peter's square, where we we blessed by the Pope along with thousands of other people, and then went and stood in line for the next 2 hours in the pouring rain (yes...it rained), before entering the city. We finished at around 5:00pm and headed back to our hostel by way of the city Metro, Italy's (much cleaner) version of the Sky Train.
When we got back both Kristin and I layed out our clothes to dry a bit and crashed for a much needed power nap ( goodtimes!). We stopped to grab a bite to eat for dinner at a little pizzeria on the corner, and now we're going to see about maybe doing some exploring with some fellow backpackers. Hope all is well and we will talk to you soon!
Ciao!
Love and hugs,
Kare and Kristin.

Ciao!
So we have nearly reached the end of our first day in Italy, and although we have done one update today already, we thought we might as well let you know how the day finished off.
After finishing our last entry, we decided to go and do a bit of exploring of the city. Within about ten minutes of leaving the hostel we found ourselves face to face with an incredible old brick church and Basilica. Across the street from this was a gorgeous fountain, and some of the most beautiful architechture we had ever seen! Kristin and I took a few pictures of what we thought were the Spanish steps (they werent but they were still beautiful) and then chased some pidgeons around the piazza before sitting down for lunch. After lunch, we decided to venture back to the hostel for a power nap so we could be well rested to continue exploring this evening. Today was a stat holiday in Italy as it is their labour day so there are a number of things including a major concert happening around the city tonight.
Roma is amazing, the weather is warm and the buildings are beautiful. We found ourselves a little caught off guard however by the extent our the language barrier. Considering the amount of tourism attracted to Rome, we had assumed that functioning in English would not be an issue...wrong. A weak attempt at ordering a drink in a cafe in Italian taught us that Italian was not quite as close to Spanish or French as we might have hoped. Not to worry though, we were able to struggle through using our phrase book and a number of stupdi looking hand gestures.
We have met a number of people in our hostel, including our roommates, who are from southern Spain, as well as people from Australia, USA, etc...
Finally, after enjoying or first slices of truely Italian pizza (amazing) we are just about ready to call it a night, as the jet lag is beginning to kill us.
Write again soon!
Love and hugs,
Kristin and Kerry.