Day 3 - January 27th 2009 Rome, Italy

Ryan and I woke up a tad late but we quickly got our act together and got downstairs for the walking tour i monumenti di Roma. We saw all the classic structures and works and they still hold great appeal even though I had seen them twice before, once on a high school trip and then again on a family trip. There was a Nike+ cross country race of some sort going on inside the circo massimo, which is fun to see the old track used for race again. Our guide through all the sites, Paola, was excellent and had great knowledge of the more intricate stories and details that I’d never heard before on other tours. We finished our tour and returned to the hotel Tiziano to spend some downtime before la cena. Our group walked a few blocks up Via Vittorio Emmanuel II and turned a destra onto Via Savelli, where the acclaimed Monte Carlo pizzeria resided. This ristorante was spectacular, the pizza crust was so thin and everything was just damn delicious. We also sipped a few litre di vino rosso. We returned to the hotel base camp to change and prepare for a night out on the city. Our group broke up into two groups, one headed to the bar straightaway and the other going to see the Pantheon at night before meeting up with Team 1. It was therapeutic to sit by the fontana and take in the magnificence of the Pantheon. After we had finished with our tranquil historic fix, we headed in search of club AnimA which was recommended by our cameriere. It was myself, Ryan and Samantha who had already gotten lost looking for the Pantheon who now had to ask for directions twice to find the place. Once inside we were gawked at by the italians, which I am not sure why because we looked pretty plain and not some gaudy american tourists taking pictures at the bar with I heart NY shirts on. So we looked for Team 1 who were supposed to have met us at AnimA. They had already left the place but we ordered our Peroni birra and sat and watched the stream of people in and out. There were four middle aged italian men who definitely were greasing us, Sam in particular of course. We played it cool and stayed for awhile longer, then departed in search of another watering hole as well as Team 1. We met them in la Piazza Navona and found our way to the bulldog inn, where Gabriella was drawing most of the italian men in to where we were sitting. We met a new friend Francesco who had drinks with us then led us to the Scholars Irish pub, which stays open later than all the other places. This pub was a madhouse and we didn’t even get in the door it was just 30 people all clamoring to get inside but a giant russian looking bouncer was throwing people out by their neck meat and solidly refusing entry into the venerable late night establishment. We canned the effort and headed back to go to sleep at the last night in the hotel.