Hola!

A lot has happened since our last post.  The day we arrived in Rome we only had reservations for one night in a hotel.  We had decided to make a quick visit to the Colosseum and then see if we could find another hotel for our remaining nights in a better location.  However, this proved to be much more difficult than we anticipated.  Most hotels wanted to charge 150 Euros a night… and the exception was a really grungy one with a shower directly in the bedroom, in the corner.  After having walked maybe 4 miles solely looking for a hotel, we ended up staying in our first hotel after all.

Our meals in Rome, as in Venice, consisted of mainly pasta or pizza.  Any time we ordered a salad they would present us with bottles of olive oil and vinegar, and we would have to mix our own dressing.  Unfortunately Melissa did not manage to master this art, and after one ruined salad was reluctant to order any more.  Overall, the food in Italy was good, but aside from maybe the gnocchi (which was amazing) all of it could just as easily have been found in the US.

The sightseeing in Rome was pretty spectacular.  We got to see the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the Pantheon, and Trevi fountain (as well as much smaller fountain with a similar name, which we found the first time we attempted to find the real one), and the Vatican (from the outside).  One thing we had not counted on was that we had arrived in Rome in the middle of “culture week,” which meant that admission to all the sights we visited were free.  It also meant we got to catch a parade that wound around the ancient parts of the city.  We also visited the Spanish Steps, which was crawling with street vendors.  One memorable one, upon seeing Jordan, tried to lure him in by shouting “Big boss!  Buon giorno!"Jordan has taken to repeating this phrase at least 5 times a day.  Afterwards, we took our books to the Villa Borghese and found a shady spot to relax and enjoy the nice weather.

On the 18^th we left Rome for Nice, along the Mediterranean Sea in the French Riviera.  The train ride to Nice might have been the prettiest yet, showing off France’s coastline.  Nice came at a perfect time in our trip, because we were ready for a city where we could do a little less sightseeing and a little more relaxing.  We had a lunch at one of the restaurants located directly on the shore, which was covered in large stones rather than sand.  Of course, we had to make a day trip to the tiny country of Monaco, which involved a 20 minute ride to the Monte Carlo train station, and a three-and-a-half hour ride back.  This was the first time we had any train problems.  Unfortunately our train broke down, leaving us stranded until another train could pull us back to the nearest station.  We got back to Nice in time for a late dinner.

Unfortunately, our train problems did not end in Nice.  We started off our trip to Barcelona today with no problems.  However, after we arrived in Merseille, we found out that there had been a pre-planned train strike in France, lasting for 24 hours during our longest travel day.  This might not have been altogether a bad thing because we were able to take buses until we reached to Spanish border.  We met a few people in the process and got to see some really picturesque views of coastal villages as we traversed the winding roads of Southern France.  Thankfully the trains in Spain are running as scheduled, and we are going to reach Barcelona earlier than we would have originally would have.

We are currently looking forwards to cruising the la Rambla in Barcelona, sampling tapas, and visiting the Picasso museum.  As much as we hate the fact that we are nearing the end of our European “holiday” (as everyone else here has referred to it) we have to admit that we are looking forward to coming home to our own beds.

~Jordan and Melissa