| Glenn's Rome Journals 4-21-02 Rome, here we come!!! We caught an early train into Rome arriving around 12:30 pm. We had called on Saturday to M&J's Place (Hostel) to verify availability. This was very convenient since we did not have to do a lot of walking to find a place for the night. We had also emailed Sylvia and Andres and told them that we would be there. M&J's Place is very close to the train station as well. It may not be in the nicest part of town but, again, it is very convenient. We dropped our bags off and took off to explore a little of Rome before we could get into our rooms for the night. We picked up a free map of the city (which worked pretty well all week) and off we were. We didn't have any specific plans on where to walk so we made it up as we went. We walked around the Piazza della Repubblica (which was close to where we were staying) and enjoyed the beautiful garden surrounding the baths. The Piazza also displays a large fountain in the center. By now we had not had lunch and Erin was very interested in some MEAT!!! A hamburger sounded like just what she wanted and, on the map, an advertisement for a Hard Rock Cafe was catching her eye. We quickly walked to the Hard Rock Cafe, sat down, and Erin enjoyed a nice juicy hamburger while I enjoyed a large Chicken Ceasar salad. Both meals were delicious, even though I would not plan on eating there often as they are expensive, even in Rome. After our meal we walked back towards the hostel only to stop into a bookstore that sold books in English. Erin had finished her second book the day before and was missing the chance to read a good book. She purchased 2 books while I, not being much of a reader of novels, bought myself a book on Africa. We then found our way back to the hostel to check in and get settled. At the hostel, who did we run in to but Sylvia and Andres. They were sitting down to check emails to see if we had written them. They had not checked emails since Thursday so they did not know that we had emailed them about meeting at M&J's Place. What a coincidence!!! We sat and shared stories about how our last week had gone and what plans we had for this week. We crashed around 11:00 pm when the main rooms in the hostel were closing for the evening. |
 |
| Rome's architecture follows one rule: be very impressive! Here, the imposing Palace of Justice |