Day 22

Today we toured around Rome and saw many sights. First we saw the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, both are archealogical sites and have lots to see, including some still-intact temples and arches. We also went into the Colosseum which was very impressive.

We also saw the Circus Maximus, but it just looks like a field, not the way it was.

Then we made our way over to the Castel Sant'Angelo. It was originally built in the 2nd century AD as a mausoleum, but in the 14th century it was converted into a fortress for the popes. It's an interesting looking building with many statues of angels standing guard. We didn't go in the fortress, but we walked around it on the outside.

Then we walked over to the Pantheon and quickly saw the inside. It's also very beautiful and has a very large dome that has a hole at the very top to the outside sky.

Shortly before arriving at the Pantheon, I had noticed some police standing on a street with riot gear. Later after leaving the Pantheon, we come to a road that is full of police with riot gear. We quickly cross the road, and not a moment too soon as I hear a rumble in the distance. A protest march quickly came around the bend and had hundreds of people involved. We overheard from someone speaking English that it had to do with public school vs. private school funding. That was an interesting experience and Tyler took some video of it, so you can experience what it was like where we were.

We then left to see the Piramide. Yes, there is a pyramid in Rome! It wasn't built by the Egyptians, but constructed as a tomb for someone important.

We got hungry so we ate at a restaurant near the Piramide. Tyler and I both got a pasta called, well I can't remember the name, but it had large spaghetti noodles with hot pepper sauce and bacon. It was pretty good. They also had a TV on and a game show was on the air while we ate. The game show started off innocently enough as a type of quiz show with about 8 contestants. There was a male hst who would ask the questions, and there were also 4 girls/models who would also occasionally ask questions or demonstrate things. When the game show was down to 2 contestants, as some kind of segway/reward, the 4 girls/models, who's only purpose so far on the game show was for sex appeal and cleavage, were sitting on a couch and rubbing their hands up their legs. Then they all jump up and start seductively dancing and rubbing themselves. At this Tyler and I burst out laughing. That is certainly not something you see on a North American game show. The audience consisted of men, women, and children, plus the remaining 2 contestants were women. (This wasn't some kind of male game show or anything). Unfortunately, before we could find out what the models would do when one of the contestants won, the channel was changed to an Italian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, that unfortunately was not nearly as interesting.

And I noticed that the Sens lost once again last night, this time against the Panthers. It looks like they'll be fighting with the Leafs for last place lol