Ok! So lots has happened since Barcelona. We left Barcelona (sad) on Saturday morning, ok, Saturday afternoon, after an evening of festivals and a crazy Barcelona goth club. You'll have to ask me about that one. Anyway, Saturday Melissa and I drove back to Heidelberg to meet up with Al and her brother Dan. We got in pretty late, so Sunday was mostly spent sleeping and resting. Nothing too exciting.

Bright and early Monday, the four of us hopped into another rental car and headed to Cinque Terre. So beautiful. We had a wonderful meal Monday night we got in. Supposedly Cinque Terre is where pesto was invented, and I believe it. The pesto was brighter green than anything I had seen before, and so so wonderful. After dinner we wandered around the harbor of Vernazza, which is the second town of the five, and the one in which we were staying. Tuesday morning and afternoon we explored the other five towns, traveling between them by train. That afternoon we headed to Rome. We got in about 11 p.m. and found our hostel, after some frustration caused by one way roads and insane Romans on moped. When in Rome, do not drive like the Romans. Trust me. But we made it safely.

Today we woke up early and headed over to Vatican City. We took a guided tour through the Vatican Museum, the second oldest in the world, which ended in the Sistine Chapel. I could have spent days in the Vatican Museum. So many amazing works of art are housed there. The Sistine Chapel is one of the greatest works of Man. After the Vatican we were starved, and so ate at a touristy restaurant near St. Peter's. We had mediocre food and kinda got ripped off. Oh well, we expected that. If you're hungry (which you are after the 2 hour tour) they've got you by the short hairs. We then proceeded to walk to the major sights in Rome, and saw the Parthenon, the Trevi fountain, the Forum, and the Colosseum. Pretty amazing stuff. It's crazy to realize that these buildings are almost 2000 years old, and in places like the Parthenon you're walking on the same floor that the Romans did back when it was a Pagan temple. Our dogs were barking at this point, and we headed back to the hostel, took a quick nap, then found a wonderful little trattoria and had a 2 hour dinner. Headed back to Heidelberg tomorrow, where I'll stay until Monday when I come back. Rome is overwhelming and wonderful. I'd like to spend more time here.

Oh, and on our way here we stopped in Switzerland for lunch and went swimming in an Alpine lake. It was so clear you could see the bottom and all the fish. Oh, and it was cold. :-) And I know those pictures look like postcards, but I took them :-) :-)