The Ancient City

Well, we made it to Rome ok from Nice. For some reason, we assumed that the Cinque Terre hike would just work itself out. However, my plan A of starting in La Spezia and hiking for the rest of the day was hampered by the fact that there were no available rooms anywhere in the city. We decided that a plan B would work better. We caught a train in the afternoon to Roma, and so we will just make the CT hike a day trip from Florence. Our roma reservation didnt begin until tomorrow so today I booked this hotel, papa germano, from my cell phone. I am really glad I got GSM. Its been a lifesaver. Anyway, all the hostels and hotels concerned with me are in the Termini area, kind of sketchy at night, but much safer than south of the termini station. The hotel we are in tonight is pretty secure, as it takes 3 keys to get to our room. Chases LOI came in to the hostel so we are going to pick it up tomorrow ahead of schedule. We met a gentleman on the train who spoke very little english, but we got him to recommend a few restuarants for us, and we went to one of them tonight, a pizzaria. My pizza had egg, procscitto, mushrooms, and olives. Really good.

Ah yes, last few days in Nice, a quick recap. Yesterday we went to Cannes, a 2 hour bus ride away. We just hung out at the beach, swam and made sand chairs. The beaches are sandy and wide, and cannes had huge murals of movie stars everywhere. The day before that, we took the bus through this amazing midevil vilage, even more ancient that that place we went to, mom, overlooking the coast. Its called Ese Village. Afterwards went to Monaco and Monte-Carlo casino. I had no intent on losing money so I waited outside and watched millionares drive up to the hotel in thier bentley convertables and aston-martins. Made scottsdale look like Tempe.Chase won back the 10 euros cover charge and quit. However, he blew 20 on a vodka martini at the Bar Americain in one of the most exclusive hotels in the world, Hotel Paris in Monte-Carlo. I got a water. Anyway, back on internet that costs money, so thats about all the time I have.

Still doing well, staying mostly hydrated, and eating fairly well. Big day tomorrow as our first day in roma, so Buenosuerta!