There and Back...Boom.

My new husband man and I had such a memorable and tiresome time in Rome,Italy on our Honeymoon. Usually when you go on vacation you lay around and relax, not this vacation. Steve thinks we walked about 150 km's the whole trip. We would stumble like old people covered in blisters,drenched in sweat, back to our hotel room at night,every night. But was it ever worth it.

My favorite parts of the trip in a nutshell-

the FOOD-Pizza and Pasta Galore and Cheese,...had the best food of my LIFE there. Its so rich and makes me salivate thinking of it. My goal for this year is to learn how to cook it just like they do.

...the BEST Pizza I have ever tasted in my life...They don't cut them in triangles like they do here.

...the Best Restaurant we ate at...best lasagna EVER...we saved the receipt and everything, I wish we got a photo of Dear Gigi.

the Wine-Cheap,divine,with every meal-finally realized what all the fuss is about having wine with meals....it goes so insanely well with italian food,they do it so right there.

the Architecture-the houses,shops,churches,everything--gorgeous and filled with character,history and life...it was hard to come back to boring,boxy,crappy vinyl siding and cheaply made buildings



the Language- Latin-its Beautiful and can even be quite Cute sounding-I'd love to learn it. We knew very little however and played charades most of time or pointed at menus when ordering meals...a bit frusterating at times. I felt like all I said the whole trip was "Gracias=Thank you"

the History- Being over Two and a Half Thousand years old, there is Extreme history. I won't go into details here...its just too much. It still boggles my mind all that has happened in Rome, so very ancient. I adore the fact they keep all the ruins throughout the entire city.

the Art- all the masters of art,if you don't know who they are, just think of the names of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...;P From Saint Peter's Basilica to the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican City to the various musuems throughout the city...the sculptures and artwork were enough to bring a tear to your eye. Art covers every inch of that city in some form or another. They don't even seem humanly possible. We came back Huge fans of the sculpter Bernini and painter Carvaggio. Pictures of these works do them no justice, they must be seen in person to fully realize their majesty and beauty.



the Men- haha...the style of the men I should say. They dress far more sharply than the woman. Its not unlikely to see a very plainly dressed woman with a extremely dressed to the nines man. The woman are more so about their bags and shoes...the men-head to toe fab.

the Tranvestite prositutes- There were a group of them down the street from our hotel and had to walk by them everyday,We called them our buddies. They don't seem to have any female ho's there...just trannies..it was different... It was quite adorable seeing them with their thick necks, wide shoulders and backs tucked into mini sundresses with implants...yup... :s

the Locals- We much preferred the locals to the mass amounts of tourists,even with the language barrier. We tried to be as least touristy as we could possibly be. I felt bad for how tourists bombard this poor city, I had no idea it would be that crazy. They must love the autumns and winter to get rid of all the english speaking folk. We ripped around on the metros with all the locals,I think most tourists are scared to...it rocked...we ruled those Rome subways. The Locals all seem quite friendly...its quite a peaceful city besides the traffic.
-Oh wait, we actually met some really cool people from California and Texas and it was really quite refreshing speaking our native tongue...not all the tourists were bad...hey,we were them afterall.

the Roma Cattis- the kitties, cats, felines hanging out all over the ruins...a lot of them feral but people take care of them...there is always food and water set out around their areas, and a colloseum crazy cat lady who hates people...she would not even look at us and sweared at us in italian. There is also a killer Cat Sanctuary where there is over 300...I want to cry but I didn't make it there...and that is why I have to go back. I'm sorry Alissa!!! I thought you meant another area but I think this is where you meant. I could cry thinking I didn't visit this amazing place. They were everywhere though so I got to see many kitties, but I would of LOVED to visit the sanctuary. :(




...more where that came from, hehe.

The Not so Good Parts-

the Hagglers,Flower Men,Purse Sellers and CRAPPY Tourist Stands that litter the city.
...There are quite a few foreigners that HARASS all tourists and even locals to give them money and buy their JUNK and they are Everywhere.

the Shopping- Yes, I said it...the Shopping. It was either overpriced crap clothes at those tourist stands,overpriced blah clothes I can get here, or Top Priced Gucci, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana,Versace,Valentino,Louis Vuitton,Dior etc etc...Love that stuff, but would bawl if I stepped foot in those shops cause I just can't afford Any of it at this point in my life...I'm on Fun-employment peoples. Plus, I go to Winners here and they have all that Brand Name Stuff for really good prices...I know...shoot me..:P

the Traffic- They do have lots of really tiny adorable cars,trucks and scooters but man,do they drive like lunatics. If you are walking on a crosswalk they do not really stop for you...they either weave around you or one car will be on one side of you and one on the other...it can be quite frightening. We started eventually waiting to cross with a pack of locals, they knew how to work it. The only time they will stop is if you are smack dab in front of their car. Its quite chaotic. I would never recommend any tourists renting a car or a scooter while visiting. There are constantly ambulances going due to traffic accidents. We seen four while we were there, one being a 6 car pile up.

the Heat- It was soooo HOT,too hot really. We were praying for rain for at least one day but nooo...the sun just BEAT down HARD whilst we walked miles everyday. I hope we cut some weight. I guess the best time to go to Rome is in Autumn...we'll know for the next time...Yes, we want to go back...there is sooo much we seen but also so much we didn't. We totally want to go all through Italy...Florence, Venice and Milan etc.

lack of Good Footwear- Man, I was wearing my best quality and they were not good enough for trucking all day on those cobblestone streets. Another goal of mine is to find Really Kick Ass Quality Shoes that won't give you blisters and that are comfy when walking all day. Not the best place to wear heels unless you are going a very short distance.

hmmmm...Nutshell not so much, sorry folks...this was way longer than I wanted it to be.
Here's a few photos from the trip...It was awesome.
I have hundreds so I'll just share a few.

...We had to pull a lot of Facebook style photos so we could get both of us in shots...we're not much for cheesy touristy pics anyhow. We are trying to be creepy cats in front of this castle...it was around 2am and we were on our way to the Coloseum...drinking vino in the streets...ohhhh yeahhh...





...look at that truck, they have the cutest lil' vehicles ever..its as big as the scooter..heehee.












...Hey Steve! <3 This is my hubman looking adorable...we were stopping for our gazillionith break from walking for some water chuggage in the beautiful Villa Borghese Park.
...We climbed to the top of this sucker, the top of Saint Peter's Basilica...it was quite the experience-hellish and wondrous all in one pop.



p.s.- I also have quite a few Diana Camera photos I need to get developed...fingers crossed that they turned out. Sorry for some of the quality of photos...my cam kinda sucks at the moment.