Recuerdos Dorados

I posted out of order! Bear with me, but I have to backtrack to the end of my Semana Santa trip with the parents. I am pretty sure there is now way to insert this in an earlier spot on my blog, but if there are any Bloggers out there who know a way, I'd love to hear.

Our last days in Rome proved to be pretty filled with seeing monuments, eating well, and of course, gladiators on cell phones.

For as incredible as the Colosseum is, it has become my least favorite spot in all of Rome. It put me immediately in a bad mood. You can't enjoy the massiveness of the architecture for 20 seconds without getting asked if you want a tour, getting followed around by people selling things, etc. I was literally furious. "I just pretend I don't speak English and I don't see them talking to me." I told my dad. He responded "I try to be polite." I, however, am so far past the polite stage. We took a break and sat up here at this cafe. It was perfect for a view of the forum without all the tourist-trap atmosphere.

We got to do this new "Underground the Colosseum" tour and here we are in the basement. This is where the makeshift elevators are, through which the slaves would lift up wild beasts and props through trap doors and onto the stage. A little overgrown, but very cool. This is where all the work behind the scenes went on for every show.

Here's the parents overlooking the stage. Apparently for Easter the Pope comes here so we were trying to find his spot in the stands.

We also met this lovely young couple in Rome for their honeymoon. The girl pulled me aside to say "It's been a great trip, but the other night we were lost and tired and we had our honeymoon fight. I hope that's normal!" It was precious, and I reassured her that it's nearly impossible to do tourist-style traveling without having at least one argument. Ask my parents. They'll tell you I argue a lot.

We got stopped by a group of 6 young girls from Syracuse, NY who asked if we would take their picture. They were very sweet, and all dressed almost identically. Turns out, they were all studying in Spain and said "Oh wow- you're teaching there?! How cool? Can you tell us about it, do you just love it?" It made me feel really old. I remember being just the same way when I found out that I could come BACK after studying abroad. Who would've thought? I think my parents are still a bit surprised that I voluntarily left home for so long. But honestly, I can't imagine having spent this year anywhere else.

Here on Palatine Hill over-looking the Colosseum. Since we had to pay to get inside here there are no people trying to force us into tours or plastic sunglasses or pictures of the Pope with a photo-shopped dove on his shoulder.

Dad and I on one of the bridges heading across to Trastevere. The best place to eat in Rome (according to us). I had my favorite gelato here one night and was convinced I'd find it again the next night. Mom didn't believe me. She thought I was leading us to the retaurant since I had my map out and was navigating. Little did she know, I was leading us right to my gelato shop. They even put mini cones on top of the ice cream which is kind of perfect for a spoon. Dad and I had been enviously eyeing icecream-eaters all over Rome with their mini cones and felt very accomplished to have finally found our own.

Nope, not in Spain. But we are, indeed, at the Spanish steps. I love this picture of my parents. On this trip they were full of energy, wanted to see and do everything. I was the one ready for bed every night. I feel lucky to be one of six kids and to have gotten my parents to myself for an entire week in Italy. Never would have pictured this happening. As with all great things, we don't take as much advantage of them at the time. Mom and Dad had to keep feeding me gelato to keep me in a good mood. I guess I get tired walking around all day, posing for pictures, trying to choose restaurants and speak to people who have terrible English. Luckily, as time goes by, we forget the sore feet, the long days, the bad moods, and remember all the awesome things we saw and the people we saw them with. We remember sitting on a ledge overlooking the city. We remember that one restaurant where we ate for three hours. We remember that we were in Italy together, and it was awesome.