Day 60-Muchas muchas actividades

We got up pretty early today, around 7 am, so that we would have most of the day to explore Rome!!  We had breakfast at the hotel, which was pretty good and complimentary!  We stocked up so we wouldn't be too hungry.  We did a pretty good job figuring out what we wanted to do and see while we were there, so we planned out our days to make sure that we could do mostly all of it.  First, we started by going to the Colosseum.  When we got there, this tour guide came over and asked if we wanted to pay an extra amount to go on a guided tour of the Colosseum and Forum.  We were only going to have pay like ten extra dollars, which to me was so worth it.  Last night was great but we all kind of said that it would have been more helpful with a guide because there was just too much for us to even know what was going on.  We convinced the others to do it, and it was a great decision.  The Colosseum was amazing!!  There was a big cross when we walked in, and our guide was great because we learned so much of the history.  He even told us that they stopped throwing Christians in because the Christians would smile the whole time they were in there and the Emperor did not want the Roman people to question why they could smile because it could start a revival.  After the Colosseum, we headed over to the Forum.  It was pretty cool too!  Then we kept walking around and found the cake building, which was just this big white building that kind of looked like the white house!
It was pretty neat!  Then we continued on and took a quick snack break.  The girls were hungry so they got something to eat and I got to try suppli, which is a special Roman snack.  It was similar to a mozzarella stick, stuffed with sauce, and rice.  It hit the spot!  Then we looked in a few stores for souvenirs and gifts and then continued walking.  We got to walk on the popular piazza, which had a lot of the popular stores too.  After walking around for a little longer, we decided to stop for gelato at a place called Giolitti that was highly recommended.  We looked for a really long time, but just could not

seem to find it.  Then finally one lady sent us in the right direction, and we found it!  Rome has the best and most gelato!  We ate so much again!  Then we walked back to go the Pantheon!  On the way we stopped at the water fountain because Rome is so cool!  Unlike Spain, where I feel like I am searching for water so much because I get so hot and thirsty, there are tons of water fountains throughout Rome, which supply clean water.  We always make sure to fill up our bottles!  Then we were able to go in and walk around the Pantheon, which is now a church.  It was pretty amazing as well, and that is where Rapheal is buried.  Afterwards, we went to dinner at a place that was absolutely incredible and felt truly Roman.  We all

just paid a set price and then got served courses.  First we got a house red and white wine.  Alice does not really drink, but she tried some wine today and I think it started to hit her because she started to act a little crazy and was cracking us up.  They were both pretty good, and then we got our appetizers, which were a delicious bruschetta.  It had ham, salami, lettuce, olives, mushrooms, tomatoes, corn, and artichokes.  Then they brought out our main entrees.  We all got served pasta dishes, which one rigatoni pasta in like a meat sauce and gnocchi in like a cheesy cream sauce.  Pasta in Rome; can you get much better?!
Then we got two cheese pizzas as well.  Finally it was time for dessert, which was so great because they brought us out this huge thing of fruit!  It was like watermelon, cantaloupe, apples, and kiwi: the good stuff!  Then our waiter, who was great started joking with us about how we needed the sexy dessert wine!  Sure enough he brought us out a bottle and boy was it delicious!  I think I like the sweet stuff!  After a wonderful, laugh-filled meal right beside the Pantheon, we started walking over to the Trevi Fountain!  The fountain was gorgeous!! It was really cool to see too because I have seen it in movies and everything before, so we were excited to throw in some coins.  We all took our turns making our wishes and take some pictures.  Then we booked it over to the Spanish Steps to try to see the sunset.  We caught a lot of it, and it looked beautiful.  We walked the whole way up and then just sat and rested for a little while and looked into the city!  We listened to some college kids behind us who were being so obnoxious and throwing and drinking things even though you weren't supposed to have any food or drinks on the steps.  Then someone came over and started yelling at them and we were just good ol' spectators.  Then we decided to check out the Trevi Fountain again one more time to see what it would be like at night.  I am glad we went back because it was pretty cool to see at night with all the lights and everything.  Then the girls wanted to stop at McDonald's to try to find WiFI.  I was glad we got to see it because it was such a nice one, so different from the States, and then we finally got back to our hotel and crashed after 2.