Ciao, Roma! Ciao Cinque Terre!

Where do I even begin? Well, here's something neat: I saw the pope. Neat indeed!
But let's backtrack a bit. Not much, though. I woke up in Rome and forgot where I was. Really. I was confused at first. Maybe it was the King's Cup and High-Low we played in the hostel the night before. But I went to the Metro, caught the train to the Vatican and walked into St. Pete's square to see giant screens of the pope talking. At first I was like, "Hey, they're playing a video of the pope! That's weird!" But then I looked ahead and saw that it was actually him talking. That was awesome. But I guess he comes out every Wednesday. He did an entire Mass, which I am not sure is typical, but then he did a blessing. So, to all of you: "On you and your families, I envoke an abundance of God's blessings of peace and joy." Straight from La Papa's mouth, guys. Feel the warmth.
The Vatican is amazing (I will likely be using that word a lot in these blogs). So in line for the Basilica, I met some people from Denver who were visiting their sister who lives on an army base in Germany. She also knew a lot about the stuff we were seeing, and they invited me to hang out with them all day. It was basically me with who I would equate to the Blodgetts all day. Needless to say, it was an excellent time.
Pope John Paul's tomb was really cool to see, as was St. Peter's and all the other amazing stuff they've got there. But one of the most awe-inspiring things of the whole day was the Gelati. No, kidding. Well, kind of kidding. But the Cupola, which was an incredibly long climb to the tippy top of the Basilica, gave the most vast views of Rome and the Vatican gardens, St. Peter's square, etc. Loved it!

Unfortunately, since the pope was out they didn't open the Basilica until 1, and by the time we were done it was too late to go to the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. Bummed, but not crying over it. It was an awesome day.

The night before I got to meet up with Andy, which was so nice! We saw the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Spanish Steps, about 50 piazzas ... but I do love those little Italian alleys, lined with cars, people and restaurants (one of which served the best plate of gnocchi I have EVER tasted.)
And Andy is an expert of Roma now, so he knew right where to go.

Day 3 was Pompeii, where I met a "Mama Gibb" and her son JD and his buddy Mark, and 2 girls from San Diego State. We spent the day together giving ourselves a personal tour of Pompeii and it was incredible. If I were Italian and alive in 79 A.D., I'd have lived in Pompeii. For shizzle.

So, I've always been a little skeptical of all those gelato nuts who scream at you if you don't eat it every day, but I will be joining them now. It's delicious.

The night before I left I did a pub crawl with my new friends from the hostel. It proved quite fun, except for the bunch of guys who absolutely perpetuated the stereotype of drunken, careless Americans using Rome as a party venue.

I slept less than 2 hours that night (last night) and was up 6:45 a.m. to walk to Termini station, buy my tickets to Cinque Terre and be on my way.