Roma, Italia: Even though we're finally here, this still feels totally unreal. People are just walking around the way they would in any big city, like they don't even notice the two-thousand-year-old structures around them. I mean, am I the only one seeing all this? I've only spent a few minutes actually walking through the cty, but I feel as if I could spend a million years just drinking in all the sights. It's cliche, but true: Rome is beautiful.
And the food. We ate at the Ristorante Venerina, and okay, it's only been one meal, but wow. The guys at my dinner table could not stop saying, and I quote, "This is real pasta." Sorry Mom, but it'll be hard to appreciate American pasta after a meal like that. And as for American ice cream, I hate to say it, but Italian gelato is the clear winner. I just wish we had more than three days to try all the flavors!
My only problem with being here in Rome is the language. While it's true that all the Italians we've met so far have spoken at least some English, I'm not sure that will always be the case. That might be a problem, because with all the Italian and German phrases I've tried to cram in the last few days, I can't even keep them straight anymore. And even though I know it's more polite to say "grazie" than "thank you," I have a lot of trouble trying to pronounce the simplest Italian words. I guess I'm just a typical American tourist, after all (a bit of a let-down).
But hey, if I have to be a tourist, at least I'm in the right place: Roma!
