Rome, Italy

yes, you read that right. we’re now in Italy. about three days ago while looking at the calendar, we realized we had plenty of time to get up the coast of Croatia. enough time, actually, that Bob suggested we take a few days to run over to Venice once we got to northern Croatia. so we started looking into it and shortly into our research found a ferry that runs from Split, Croatia to Ancona, Italy. it wasn’t too expensive, and with the time we could save by not having to drive clear up and around the coast of Croatia, we figured we could also jump over to Rome for a day or two. hells yeah we booked it. seven hours later on a humoungus ferry across the Adriadic Sea, i’m now sitting in Bob’s cousin’s flat smack dab in the middle of Rome. (i have a feeling none of you reading this will ever want to travel with me – ever!)

here’s our ferry. she’s the one on the left

this morning we headed out to see the sights after a really good pastry breakfast at a local deli, and holy moly is this city fantastic! for those of you who may not know me well, i travel to experience other culture. it’s as simple as that. (well, i like to snap a picture or two as well…) whether this be through art, architecture, people watching, or a simple chat at a roadside market, i find experiencing other people’s way of life first hand so rewarding. there’s no way you can have tea with a rural family in northern Vietnam in their dirt floored home, see how happy they are, and not have it effect you in some way. here in Rome, there’s no way you can walk around these buildings, many of them so much older than we can even imagine in the States, and not be moved by their beauty, the story behind their existence, or the stories their walls could tell. it’s amazing, and it’s my hope that everyone back home will be able to take a trip to someplace unfamiliar, someplace new, heck, maybe even somewhere that’s scares the living bejesus out of you sometime in your life. with an open mind, i have no doubt that trip would change you into a slightly better version of yourself.

since i’m better at making pictures than i am at narrating our days, i’ll again let the below images tell about our day and what we saw. the highlights today included the Vatican Museum (with the Sistine Chapel), St. Peter’s Square, the Pantheon (built in the 2nd century!!!), the Colosseum, and all the crazy awesome sights in between.