Days 3 and 4

On Saturday I didn't write in my journal about our travels, but I know that we visited the Spanish steps, the Trevi Fountain. the Bocca della Verita.

Nancy hoping her hand doesn't get bitten off

  Around Lunch time we broke up into groups to explore the city. Nancy, Kate and I went to the Piaza de Popolo. There was some celebration going on and there were Police, and people everywhere. So after walking around a bit we walked up the hill overlooking the Plaza.

 Above the Plaza was the entrance to a parkish place called the Villa Borghese Gardens. It was beautiful! For lunch the three of us ate pizza and salad at an outdoor restaurant near the entrance to the park.

We split this and the little bowl of salad in the top corner (plus there was bread).

The rest of the day we spent exploring the nearby area (and trying to find our way back to the apartment).

........
**This post was written on May 11, 2009 in Rome, Italy while I was on a Study Abroad.**

On Sunday we would have gone to church but it was Stake Conference for all the surrounding wards (and the building where Stake Conference was at was too far away for us to go), so instead a couple of us went to Palentine Hill to check out the emporer's summer house and his view over the Chariot Races.

Pretending we're a Roman Family enjoying the Chariot Races

It was pretty cool looking at the remains of the emperor's house, but it what was even cooler was the queen's house right next door! In the Queen's home there were frescoes that were still in remarkable shape from that time period! 

The Queen's house

Frescoes from the Queen's home

Below some of the emperor's house was the skeleton of another home that was built back in 1 AD!

The emperor's courtyard/garden overlooked the Roman Forum and over half of Rome! It was gorgeous!

After everyone was finished with Palentine Hill we went back to the hotel for our swimsuits and then headed down to the beach! We took a train out to the coast and then walked the rest of the way to the beach and boy was it PACKED!! There were women (that were just about naked) and men (in speedos, of course) all over the place, we could hardly find a spot to fit all of us, but after some searching we found on eventually.

Practically everyone wanted to sunbathe so only Hilary and I ventured out into the water. After a little while we decided to take a little walk along the beach. Nancy then joined us, so we all went for a little stroll. Along the way we ran into a bunch of local boys who wanted us to stick around and flirt with them, but we just ignored them and soon enough they were gone. We walked pretty far and took some fun pictures , but I was glad when we decided to head back. All in all it was a great day!  

Hilary and I

Playing in the Wake