March 2

Look ma! I'm in two countries at once. Here I am partially in the Vatican, partially in Italy. This weekend, I was in Rome! What a treat. A quick hour and a half high speed train ride got us right into the city. If Florence is a Boston or Chicago, Rome is certainly New York. Busy, quick-paced, whizzing taxis, and filled to the brim with map-wielding tourists, the city juxtaposes modern life against ancient. Ruins are everywhere. Famous landmarks are around every corner. And in front of every landmark, there is a salesman trying to sell you a key chain. We hit all of the main sights on Saturday: The Vatican, Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, Castle San Angelo. The line to see the Sistine Chapel would have taken us 4 hours, so we opted to skip it in favor of seeing more sights with our limited time.