David and Bobby's Excellent Adventure: Firenze y Roma

Well, the theme of our trip is that Bobby and I f*** up, but everything works in the end.

Let's see, I last wrote from Florence where we were staying with friends. To sum it up, I will never share an apt. with 6 sorority girls ever again. The girls were nuts. They go out every single night at like 1 in the morning, get up the next day and do it all over again. Bobby and I barely survived one night out with them. They also do not possess inside voices, so our hearing will be a little out of whack for a while.

The guys we were with were all very cool and it was an enjoyable time. We ate some delicious food (and some not so delicious food) and had some great gelato. The downside was we didn't do very much sightseeing. Yes, we skipped seeing the DAVID. Gasp! Now, settle down people. First of all, I get to see myself naked everyday, and that is much more impressive. Second, I saw the few fake David statues scattered about, and I'm pretty sure they all look the same.

OK, that's it for Florence, we probably spent one too many days there (4). This left us with 2 days in both Rome and Venice. With our schedule set, we got the bright idea to book the rest of our hostels all at once. Well, except for Venice, but more on that later.

We arrived in Rome and after wandering around, we realized we need more days here. And, being the religious zealots we are, it didnt cross our minds that the Vatican is closed Sundays (something about being a holy day). That was one extra day right there. After much debate (10 seconds) we decide to skip Venice, and spend 2 more nights in Rome. We now plan to head to Vienna on Wed. morning. Luckily the hostel in Rome has room and we book the next 2 nights. This morning (Sunday) we discover that it is a 15 hour train ride to Vienna and is only done at night. So, we head to the train station, reserve a seat for Tues. night and kick ourselves for paying 24 euro each on a wasted hostel night. Well, it turns out the hostel is very nice and refunds our money minus a 5 euro surcharge. So, it all works out in the end.

As for Rome itself, it is very cool. We met 2 girls who are staying in our room, and we went out for dinner and drinks with them. When we got back to our room we met the other 2 roommates who were from New York and surprisingly well educated. Despite the fact that one of them is voting for Hilary, we spent an enjoyable night discussing everything from sports to the primaries. A good night all around.

The next day we decided to do a tour, so we knew what the hell we were looking at. It ended up being just the 2 of us (OK, I'll wait for you to finish singing the Will Smith song) who show up for it. Private Tour! It was a little awkward, but it was fun. He showed us all the sights, we talked about how bad ass Russell Crowe was, and ate at a delicious place next to the Pantheon.

Tomorrow is the Vatican, and then on Tuesday we will go into the Coliseum and reenact the Russell Crowe vs. Joaquin Phoenix battle before heading to Austria.