Today was such a good day! Jackie and Dale (two of my roomies in the hostel) and Dale’s friend Caleb and I all went to the Vatican Museum - leaving at 9:30 we got there about 10 and stood in line until 11:20; however, we just talked the time away and it wasn’t bad at all. Dale is from Oregon, Caleb is from Lancaster County, PN (no, he is not Amish), and Jackie is from Minnesota. The Vatican is really cool and the Sistine Chapel was amazing, but after a while it is overwhelming - there are so many stolen relics that you can only take in so much. Lol Some of the coolest things we saw were: the bath that Nero had made for his wife in purple marble (that color is 
worth 8 times the worth of gold), statues of Hercules and Augustus, a tapestry of the last supper, and tons of Egyptian and Grecian statues.
Somehow we lost Jackie in the Vatican and we looked for her, but couldn’t find her. After the Vatican we went to St. Peter’s Square and Basilica (which are also part of the Vatican). The Basilica was AMAZING. Inside there was a statue made by Michelangelo of Mary holding the dead Jesus and it was so realistic and touching. The Basilica was covered in gold gilding and had paintings and statues and marble galore. It was a bit disturbing to thing how much money was put into it, but it was beautiful. 
From there we started walking toward the Piazza del Popolo which contains the oldest Egyptian obelisk in Rome (maybe anywhere?). When the Romans conquered Egypt they took many relics as spoils of war and there are obelisks all over Rome from there. However, they were setting up the Piazza for a concert or something, so it wasn’t very pretty. Before we got to the Piazza we stopped for paninis and gelato. We got A LOT of gelato for only 1.80 (I had berry and chocolate) and the guys had never had gelato before - they were blown away. In fact, 20 minutes later, we passed another gelato place and Dale got more. Haha 
After the Piazza we went to the Spanish steps and took pictures then went to this big park which a lot of cool fountains where we took more pictures and rested. I really enjoyed Dale and Caleb’s company - they are good guys, interesting to talk to, and funny. (Though half the time Caleb says things that I don’t think he intends to be funny, but they just end up coming out funny). They both go to Univ. of Oregon, but are studying in Athens and are on break right now. I’m sad to leave for Florence tomorrow and not get to hang out with them more - but I guess I will get to meet up with Bell and Paul tomorrow which will be nice. 
I still don’t have a couch to surf in Florence, so I guess I’ll check out a hostel that they have advertised at this hostel for one in Florence.
After the garden we walked back to the hostel for pasta, but stopped at a grocery store first and I got fruit (which I’d been sorely missing!). Now we are all sitting around with the other hostel occupants watching Gladiator in the kitchen (where the big TV is). I will probably go use the computer soon though to upload this blog. 
Tomorrow it’s off to Florence…
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