Bon journo Rome!

We have successfully made it to Rome! Ryan's first thought was Rome is just a little bit North of hell because it is so hot.

Rewind to our last day in Innsbruck -
Ryan here...we went to the Swarvoski Crystal Worlds museum just a little bus ride out of Innsbruck. We had heard conflicting opinions on whether or not to go. Since Innsbruck had a delightful thing to buy called an Innsbruck card, we were able to view all museums, use all public transportation, and one ride up/down the mountain. The Crystal World museum was a very artsy, almost avant-garde, style of a museum. The exhibit is pretty short and if you guessed everything was made with crystals, you are right! After touring the inside of the museum, there is a lot to do outside. For example, they had a maze shaped like a hand, more things made from crystals, and a park.

Huge Crystal Dome

Poseidon's Puzzle

Jellyfish

After we got back to Innsbruck from the Swarovski museum, we walked around until we got tired and waited in the hotel lobby until enough time had passed so we could go to the train station. On the train we had our own small room with bunk beds and a wash station. At 9 the next morning we made it to Rome, made a poor decision to not take a taxi and walk to our hotel in the sweltering heat. Once we found our hotel after about fifteen minutes of walking, we were not able to check in to our hotel until noon. So we did as the Roman's do and had McDonald's for brunch. Then we walked around Rome with our backpacks keeping our backs sweaty and saw a few sights before we decided to head back to the air conditioning in the hotel lobby. A good 24 hours without a hotel room in Europe can help you create quite a smelly odor. When we got to our room we both had to fight over who was going to take the first shower; Allie was nice enough to let me wash my stinky feet first. (She can be so nice sometimes :) Well enough from me now you may hear Allison tell you her side of the story (the truth perhaps). Allison me scuzi, it is your turn to type.

Allie here: I better mention that the entire train ride, our cabin smelled like Ryan's feet. We had a good time laughing about it though! Our hotel room is great, with a huge bathroom and our own little fish! Check out the video to get a tour of our room (sorry it is a little messy because we were unpacking!). We did a little roaming around the city and wow is it beautiful. Everywhere you turn there is a mix of old and new. We stumbled upon this huge white monument and got to explore it a little. The heat was really getting to us so we stopped for dinner at a little cafe next to our hotel. I got pasta and Ryan ordered a pizza. The food was delicious and we talked with the owner a little bit about the operas here in town, which his 13 year old sister sings in many. It was great to just sit in the cafe and experience the culture. People dress really nice here (we noticed this in Germany & Austria also), the streets are full of shops for shoes and clothes. So far we are enjoying Rome!

Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II (National Monument of Victor Emmanuel II) made of marble,
Vittorio Emanuele II was the first king of Italy from 1849-1861.
Designed in 1885 and completed in 1935