We had a great time in Cinque Terre, but we had to leave for Rome on Friday if we were going to see the Sistine Chapel on Saturday morning. On the train, Javaun learned something very disturbing: that when you flush the toilet on a train, it spills the contents directly onto the tracks. This is why they tell you not to flush while the train is in the station.

Rome turned out to a great way to end our trip. We arrived Friday night and had fun eating more gelato and heckling the street merchants who tried to sell us photos and flowers in front of Trevi Fountain. Javaun haggled down the price of a rose and then tried to sell it back to the vendors, who found it very annoying to be bothered by someone trying to sell them something. Hmmmmm....

On Saturday morning, we got off the subway in the Vatican and sprinted to get ahead of several hundred tourists (mostly elderly) who were being dropped off by the busload. After the Vatican Museum, Jen shopped near the Spanish steps while Javaun stayed to go back to St. Peter's. We lucked into getting tickets to a special Vatican celebration at St. Peter's -- the Pope would be there giving the service!

The celebration in St. Peter's was one of the most overwhelming events of the trip. Afterwards, we ironically headed over to Campo de Fiore (the old Jewish Ghetto, now a bustling art district) and ate dinner in the smokey basement of a restaurant called "Lucifero."

For our last full day in Rome, we headed to the Borghese, a big central park in the north of the city. We rented cruiser bikes and chased pigeons. Jen actually hit one! Again, it was one of those things that we did spontaneously and it just worked out for us.

Leaving Rome, we ran into Rebecca, her sister Liz, and their friend Stephanie. We'd met them on the plane trip to Rome, and now we found out they were also flying back with us! We spent some time telling our stories and exchanging contact information.

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Rome Part II: (36 Photos)