2:36pm

im sitting at the hotel watching the simpsons in italian (tim would be so proud)  this morning we finished all of our tours by going to st. peters in the vatican and to la castella san angelo.  st peters was so beautiful and there is no way i could capture the immense beauty and size in my pictures but i tried anyway.  the tomb of pope john paul II was amazing.  there were people there worshipping and mourning which was very emotional to see.  there were several times in st peters that caused me to tear up....its an intense place.  i have studied this for so long and to see it in person can be a bit overwhelming.  the bladacchino (altar over peters tomb) was so beautiful and the pietà was smaller than i thought but it didnt matter.  after st peters we walked to castelo sant angelo which i didnt know a lot about.  the views from the castle were amazing!!  it was built as a tomb by hadrian and restored by a later pope.  our tour guide, manuel, was so wonderful these past two days.  afterwards, me cristen and the two massachusetts girls went and got pizza at a place on vittorio emanuelle II then walked to an internet cafe off of via arendula and are now back at the hotel.  we made plans to meet at 7:30 and take them to trevi fountain again tonight.

6:40pm

...sitting on the steps of santa maria dell anima in the piazza navona...  Borromini built the steps im sitting on...weird.  there is guitar and violin music coming from opposite sides of the square and accordian music....and a mim just walked by.  at this time of day it is mostly locals hanging about before the tourists take back over.  cristen and i escaped a little bit early to recap the day before dinner and we are about to meet up with the massachusetts girls and walk to trevi.  i am definitely going to miss piazza navona but am excited to begin Florence.

11pm

just got in.  we walked around the pantheon and then on to the trevi fountain and ate dinner and talked for several hours.  i love the mass. girls.  we have to be packed and fed and ready to leave at 8:30am so im going to bed now.  i just got off the phone with liz leffage who i love and miss.  im glad we have sucha global community in the world now, so that i can keep in good contact with everyone and have such clear conversations.  im so looking forward to settling in to Florence, but i love rome.  i will ALWAYS love rome.  rome gave me confidence and now i feel like i can go anywhere.  i look forward to being a "local".  hotel tiziano on vittorio emmanuelle II....you have treated me well....but Via dei Benci calls!