This is the life...

So I'm on my fourth day here in Rome with my friends Adriana and Haley and I'm convinced I could live like this (now about that job...) Anyway, we spent the day yesterday walking all around the city, just wandering without any plan or itinerary. Haley made a really good comment yesterday that it's really nice to be in Rome with people who have already seen all the big sights, and to able to just walk and wander, without a scheduled itinerary or the need to run all around the city and wait in long lines to get into the Vatican or see the Sistine Chapel. Instead, we've just gone wherever we wanted to at the moment, visiting old favorite gelato or pizza spots, or happening upon some of the famous sights like the Trevi fountain and the Spanish steps. Yesterday we also visited Villa Borghese, one of my absolute favorite places in Rome. It's a kind of urban park with lots of trees and paths perched on top of a hill overlooking Piazza del Popolo. In the early evenings its usually overrun with young italians running around, flirting, and riding these ridiculous four-person bikes or mini-go carts around, sometimes crashing into each other or innocent bystanders. A lot of Italian families go for an evening stroll here as well, it's a very pleasant place for a walk. 

After walking the whole day on hot cobblestones, our feet were tired and sore and upon stumbling across a little fountain decorated with stone turtles, we decided to dip our feet in. It was amazing. The water was the perfect temperature, very cool and refreshing on our poor tired feet! We stayed there for a long time, until we had to get back to the Rome Center to help Haley set up for a movie showing.

We had dinner in Trastevere, a very lively neighborhood across the river from Campo de Fiori where we are staying. The restaurant, La Taverna della Scala, is where I had my first real Italian tiramisu' two years ago. This time for dinner I had the risotto with asparagus and re-lived my tiramisu' experience from before...still the best I've had! Haley, Adriana, and I stayed chatting and drinking wine at our sidewalk table until we were literally kicked out around midnight. Then we took a walk from Trastevere to Campo de Fiori across the Ponte Sisto (Sisto Bridge) where we stayed for awhile watching a live band playing on the middle of the bridge. We then walked to Piazza Navona and then back to Campo de Fiori while trying to escape from these scary French men who were trying desperately to get us to have to a drink with them. In Campo we met a group of hilarious Italian boys fresh out of high school, who cracked us up with their crazy and immature shenanigans for the rest of the evening until we finally returned to Haley's apartment to go to bed at 4:30 am. Whew! Like I said, this is the life.... : ) pictures coming soon!

Ciao, Maria