ciao from roma

Hey Everyone
today it is raining in rome so we are having a quiet one and regretting we choose today as laundry day! oh well, we do not leave until friday so hopefully things will dry.
it has been a busy few days since we arrived seeing all the sights. Yesterdays vatican tour was intense (partly because it was hot and lasted for 3 hours with no loo or water top up breaks) but fascinating. We had a passionate english speaking american tour guide who had studied both history and archeaology. It was like a crash course in ancient history which i absolutely loved! (no dad it was not a crash course in history, but it was like one :)-!)
Rome is a really interesting city. so much of history either happened in either the city or the country (though i thought the Jesus thing happened in the mid east - maybe i need a real history lesson or the main characters (Jesus, Peter and Paul) ended up here later on??) and the remnants of ages gone by dot the city. We have walked by the Pantheon (a temple to the pagan gods which become a church in the 7th century when the christians felt they were getting possessed when they walked by and which now houses the bodies7 graves of previous italian kings) so often it almost seems common! Not quite, but almost. And who knew Italy had kings? Or has a great history of civil unrest, partly bought about by Constantinople giving the country to the Papalcy in the 4th century. The most venerated king is Vittorio Emanuelle who was the first king of unified italy - only 100 or so years ago
anyway enough history - but can you tell i am my fathers daughter?!
we are going to head off to the english bookstores and find something more to read now - i just read the memory keepers daughter which was interesting and one i would recommend.
our apartment is in the heart of the city so it is busy and noisy - rome is a city that truly never stops. however we are close to everything - here you can walk everywhere you need to. We have a basic kitchen but are getting out for most meals, except breakfast (usually boiled eggs) as the cafes basically serve pastry before lunch. the vespas are soemthing to be seen to be believed as they are everywhere - yesterday two crashed outside our apartment which was entertaining!
we plan on heading out of the city tomorrow for a day trip to a little town called tivoli (about an hour by train) then will spend thursday doing last minute rome things (not sure what they will be yet!) and Friday we take the train to naples for the night.
the coffee is amazing 0 it actualyl has a flavour and does not give you a buzz or leave you bouncing off the walls like in Sydney
it is lovely not having to work and being to have an afternoon nap whenever we feel like it.
Usually though, in the afternoon.
To the sibling who replied to my sistine chapel text - did you really think it was the sixteenth chapel????????????????????????????????????????

kel x