Rome is LOST

or Rick is lost (Rickey to me) or something. anyway, we can't find our Rick Steves' Rome book, and as we are now officially in Rome, it's something of a bad thing. We didn't realize we were missing it until we were packing this morning, but then suddenly, it wasn't there with the other books. I have no idea where it went (I'm pretty sure it left home with us), but it's no longer with us. Thank goodness we brought our Let's Go Italy book, which we totally intended to leave at home. But, it's no Rick. In fact, it doesn't even mention the Sistine Chapel. Um, hello? Kind of a big deal, but no mention.Guess those Harvard kids who research and write the books have no need for one of the greatest works of art ever. No matter, we have Google at our finger tips, and in the time it took me to type the last couple of sentences, Chris already found the desired info. Take that Harvardites!

So, we started out today in the Cinque Terre. Had to wake Rina (that's what everyone calls her) up so we could pay and get Chris' passport back before making the 6:35 train to La Spezia and then make the next train to Pisa. I felt bad waking her up, she was in her nightgown with her hair all askew, but I think she liked us, and she totally loved my hair, so it was OK. So, off we went. We have yet to be on an Italian train since arriving some other day (I'm pretty clueless about that stuff right now - as long as I know where I'm going tomorrow, I'm good) that is on time. We got to Pisa like 45 minutes late. Then, after RUNNING to the tower because I needed a WC like nobodies business and it was about to get bad, and roaming around the "Field of Miracles" taking the cheesey hold the Tower up pics (yes, they actually worked), walking through the Duomo (cathedral) and the Baptistry (where they baptized people), we were trying our darndest to make the 11:54 train to Florenece. We'd left our bags in the baggage check and after picking them up, we ran for the train just to get there in time for Chris to put his hand on the door just as it was pulling away. The only time any darned train leaves on time, and of course, we're not on it. Typical!

The tower was pretty cool. I had been disappointed that we wouldn't be able to climb it (have to make reservations 16 days in advance and we tried 1 week out), but after being there, it just seemed like a waste of stairs, and we climbed over 400 in Florence, so really, it was okay. Plus, there wasn't really anything to see. It's not like you can see the tower from the tower, KWIM? I hadn't been in any of the buildings before, and it was really nice to get to see what's inside of them (we did have Ricky for that) even though the place was lousy with tourists. I know, I know, I was one of them, but we're talking 50 person tour groups here. Oh, it was aweful. They were everywhere, both inside and out. It's nearly impossible to get a picure of anything around the without a throng in it. Yuck!

Finally, we were on our way in Florence with a whopping 3.5 hours. Not enough time to do a whole lot, but we did walk to the Duomo (the main cathedral). We oogled the doors on the baptistry along with all of the other 3 bajillion tourists and thought about going in the Duomo, but the line was literally a couple of hundred people long. So, we climbed up the campanile, the bell tower next to the Duomo.Hello! Over 400 steps (the Italians said 414, but we each counted 405). Yeah, it was a great view, but I was in serious need of gelato afterwards!. We walked to the big piazza with the former Medici palace in it (did you know they got their name b/c they started out as medics and eventually moved into banking?) and looked at all of the statues there. We strolled through the Uffizi courtyard (at 4:00 there was still a HUGE line for the Uffizi) and then over the Ponte Vecchio. Oh wow! The bridge itself if beautiful and is lined with jewlery shops. Wow! pretty sparkly things. But, nothing we could afford. Sorry Bob! I'm still working on it!

We made it back to the train station just in time to get our baggage from the check room and pick up a snack, and then we noticed the train was in ritardo. Just great! Finally, we got on, but it was the 1st class section of the train, and here we come with our sack of Mickey D's and boy, we donàt look like the regular 1st class Italian train traveler, but we paid for our first class ticket, so by gosh, weàre gonna use them! When we finally got to the train station, it was late....after 7, and we tried to get a reservation for tomorrow night's night train to Venice. Of course, the guy who worked in the ticket office didn't speak English. So, he got another gal to help us, and she told us sleeper reservations would be 53 Euros on top of our Eurail. Um, yeah, not so much! So, we reserved seats only. Who needs a sleeper. It's only 7 hours! I'm hoping we can at least get a compartment and stretch out. Our hotel is darling. It's on the 2nd story of this apartment type of building right by the Spanish Steps. We the lovely guy working there where to go for dinner, and he sent us to the place just next door. The food was AWESOME!!! And their wine selection? Fabulous! We once again, had house white, and it was outstanding. I've become a little conessouir over here! So, the wine has put me under, and Iàm just about falling asleep at this computer! I'd better head out, seeing as we're going to the Sistine chapel and the Roman Forum.