Day 3 June 2nd

Happy giorno di indipendenzzia! How lucky we were to travel to Italy on the day of its independence (at least we’re guessing that’s what today marks). Being familiar with the city and our trusty map helped us navigate the city. I dare say we almost looked like natives, minus the fact that just about every vendor can pinpoint Nate as English-speaking . I’m not sure what it is, but I think it has something to do with his white hair and blue eyes... All I know is that every time someone stops him, I dart the other way 
Today was quite eventful, with the morning starting out with a pigeon inviting himself into our room. We heard his ugly bird call so Nate went to check it out. Suddenly he was engaged in a ferocious battle with the creature trying to get it back outside, all while I was getting ready for the day oblivious to the happenings. After our bird issues were settled we traveled to “city center” where we stopped for about an hour in front of the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II for the independence day celebration. There we saw quite the mix of armed forces including cavalry, police, firefighters, secret police, and overhead helicopters and jets. We were waiting to see the Royal Monarchy, but we are not sure if we actually saw them. Next, we were off to see some castles and Vatican City. On our way we saw the Palazzo Venezia, Chiesa de Gesu, Area Sacra, Plazza Colona, Palazzo Montecitorio, Pantheon, Palazzo Madama, Piazza Navona, Plazzo di Giustizia, Castel Sant’ Angelo, and the Basilica S. Pietro. It turns out that we got to the Vatican just in time to miss the pope. We decided to wait in line for the Vatican (especially since it was free) because when in Rome…We waited about an hour in line, but when we entered we found ourselves face to face with the grandest church we’ve ever seen. Besides Peter’s tomb, there were exquisite sculptures, inscriptions, and Michaelangelo’s only autographed work.
After our last day in Roma, we realized we had fifteen minutes to catch our bus or be left in the city after dark. We began to run from the center of the city through the gridlock of streets. As we leapt into streets and bounded the crosswalks, we accidentally bumped into some natives left with nothing but our apologies in crude Italian, “Scuzzi.” Thus, we realized part of the reason that Europeans hate us…woops, but we made our bus with 3 minutes to spare so I really don’t feel that bad!
Tomorrow we head off to somewhere different…
-Mo