[29] June 13, 2008: Roma

Firstly, I apologize for not having phoned anyone or updated recently, but it had been a bit wild.
I arrived in Paris at 6 am and was not able to check into my hostel until before noon. I was able to leave my luggage at the hostel and wandered around the 19th arrondisement (near the Canal St. Martin, from the film Amelie), eating fresh pain au chocolate and local fraises (strawberries).
In the afternoon, after a brief nap and shower, I walked around the Cimitier Pierre LaChaise, looking at random graves and mausoleums, because I was unwilling to pay 1 euro for the tourist map. I was extremely tired and was drinking a 1.5 L bottle of water I had purchased at the local Monoprix (!!!!)

I went home for a nap around dinner and met my roomate, Isabelle from Sweden. She and I wandered around a few vintage shops in the Chatelet-Les Halles area and ate dinner whilst watching the Sweden-Greece match at a cafe in the Montparnasse area. We had demis of Stella. I was so exhausted.

The next day, I still felt very tired and was planning to sleep until afternoon, but my plans were overturned by two nice American girls, Sarah and Caroline, who asked me to show them the city (okay, I proposed it, but they accepted!). We did la Musee de l'Erotique, Sacre Coeur, les Jardins de Luxembourg, the centre George Pompidou, Notre Dame, crepes outside Notre Dame, the Louvre, les Champs Elysees, the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffle Tower, all before climbing up the 9 floors to our room at the Peace and Love hostel! It was amazing. Here is a picture of me at the fountain/pool in the Jardin de Luxembourg.

I arrived in Rome after being herded like cattle through the Pairs-Beauvais-Tille airport. It was not so much fun waking up at 5h00 to get on the Metro to take the shuttle to the airport, but it was even less fun standing in line to get my ticket, shuffling things around in my bags so that they weighed exactly what the airlines prescribed, and then going through security. The line for security was not so much a line as a mass exodus (redundancy intended). In the line to board the aircraft, I started talking to the person beside me, and nice Australian guy, ironically by the name of Guy. We talked the whole way to Rome and we sat together, since if you fly Ryanair, when you board from the back of the airport, finding a seat you like is impossible, more like a free for all, but there is no assigned seating.

We talked about the differences and similarities between Canada and Australia. Apparently Australia is considering completely rejecting the Queen and the supremacy of England to become an independent Republic. I wonder what most Canadians would think about that. What we have in commond (for now): our commonwealth status and the subjugation of our Aboriginal peoples.

In my usual fashion, I captivated Guy with my Classics-speak ('Oh! Look, and aqueduct!) and convinced him to travel around Rome with my fellow Classics nerds. Who better to have as guides! When we flew into Ciampiano (sp?) airport outside of Rome and spotted Air Force One. Apparenly G W B had the same ideas as we did, visiting this fair Italian capitol. The next morning we saw him on the television.

Guy and I waited for Jess and Zeyd to collect us from the Termini station and take us to the hostel, but Chris and Dave were a bit late, so we just hung around the station waiting some more. Laura Smith (aka Laura Light or Laura Minore) arrived and we waited. Chris and Dave were late because their airplane broke waiting at Pearson International.

Once everyone arrived, we freshened up at our hostel and went out for the most delicious pizza in Rome (near the Termini Station, an donly 3 Euro a slice!). Then we started walking towards the Forum Romanum and the Colosseum. We emerged from the Esquiline to the beautiful and imposing silhouette of the Colosseum and our love for Rome and its storia (Italian for History) was set.

The group, from left to right: Chris, Laura *Light*, Jess , Zeyd, Guy, Dave, and Laura (me!).