The end of day one in Rome:

Today we woke up early, and by early I mean 8 am, and then proceeded to take our time getting ready for the day and getting going. We have a great little breakfast at the bar attached to our hostel. I have a bacon and egg sandwich - very American. After breakfast we started walking...

We walked from our hostel past the Forum ruins to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The monument dominates the surrounding landscape. From the Tomb we walked over to the Colosseum. We spent a lot more time here than we needed to, but it was interesting none the less. It is a little sobering to realize that we were standing in a building devoted to the worship of death (basically). From the Colosseum we walked back through the ruins of the Forum and then up to a church that looked huge on the tourist map. Unfortunately, the church was closed and our walking was in vain. From the church we back-tracked to the Trevi Fountain.

The group consensus is that the Trevi Fountain is pretty amazing, yet the sheer volume of tourists was a little overwhelming. It was a sea of people surrounding a wall with a fountain. I can't even imagine what the place would look like in the middle of July! From the fountain we walked to the Spanish Steps to catch a breath-taking sunset.

We walked from the steps to dinner, and had yet one more amazing meal in Italy. After which we walked back to the hostel where Lisa and I proceeded to get a Chuck Norris Roundhouse Kick to the Face (it's a drink)... I'm not a big drinker, but the name says it all - I can now say that I survived a Chuck Norris roundhouse-kick to the face (Jagger, Vodka, Sambuca, Tabasco - YUK!!!) With that, I will leave you with the fact that I am headed to my room to pass-out. Not from the alcohol - one drink shouldn't do that - but from the fact that I walked back and forth across Rome for the better part of 12 hours.