Rome!

When Dave and I heard that his parents were going to be in Rome last weekend, we begged for time off and quickly scrambled together a visit. It was a blast!!
Dave has been to Italy and Rome before, but this was my first visit. It was like Paris...only Italian with lots Roman ruins. In our three day visit we managed to see the Pantheon, St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, the Colloseum, the Forum ruins, and Trevoli fountain. We stuffed ourselves with amazing food and wine (hurray for artichoke season!!), and soaked up the sun. We really appreciate the weather we had in Rome since winter finally decided to visit Poland this week. Our very late first snow dumped 6 inches overnight.

Amelia, one of my friends from Georgetown, is in Rome this semester working on her ph.d. We were able to meet up with her and her fiancee for dinner one evening (fabulous meal...our server also seemed to own the place and kept force feeding us her delectable foods). You can read lots more about our meal on her website. It was nice to see friends and family! Another highlight of our trip was witnessing several small police stings. There is a flourishing designer knock-off black market in Rome. Bands of illegal immigrants roam around the big tourist areas, either draping their merchandize off of their arms or setting up temporary blanket displays. The cops would come in, and within seconds the displays and vendors were nowhere to be seen. It was like watching a flock of pidgeons take off. Needless to say the police weren't very successful. They managed to snatch one guy's blanket of bags, but ten minutes after the police left the vendors were all back again. I definitely want to go back, and thanks to Central Wings in Poland and Ryan Air in Brussles (I heard this week that the assignment is official), I hope we can explore a bit more of Italy next time. Mmm...Tuscany wine and Como silk.