...but, alas, no. For some reason I couldn't bring myself to like the food in Italy either. Like I said, I lead a rather sheltered life when it came to food as a child and was never forced to eat anything I didn't care to try. But, this Italian tale is about something other than food.


Bari, Solerno, Sorrento, Naples, Capri...we visited several cities in the southern part of Italy and they all have their separate interesting tales to tell. But, this one comes directly from Rome, right on the outskirts of Vatican City. Which, yes, granted it's a separate country in itself, but consider this post a two-fer.

On one of our days in Rome we had an option to go with the group to Florence to see the museum for an extra $60, or we could stay in Rome for the day unchaperoned. Now, if you were a 17-year-old kid in high school I would think your decision would be pretty easy, but the vast majority of people went to Florence nonetheless.

The handful of us that stayed in Rome decided to tour all of the sites again that we had seen the previous day because a kid that joined the group from a different high school in Minnesota without knowing anyone was sick that day and didn't get to see anything. So we decided to make him feel welcome and take him to see the things we did. Besides, we had fun and thought it'd be good to see them all again anyway.

By this time we were all fairly familiar with the metro, so we took the train back over to Vatican City in the morning to walk through St. Peter's again. It was really quite a nice morning...that is until we went to get back on the train and realized all those signs we saw in Italian were warning us of a citywide transit strike.

Yep, no trains, buses or cabs anywhere to be found. If we wanted to get anywhere in Rome we had to either drive ourselves or hoof it on our own two feet. And since we didn't have a car, there was really only one option on this sweltering June day.

We had to walk all the way back to our hotel.

The four or five of us, I forget how many went back out, found a nice shady spot to sit down on a sidewalk as we looked over our map to find our way back. And no sooner did the sidewalk get warm from our bums than a military vehicle pulled up with an odd looking man sitting in the back wearing a cowboy hat.

Yes, in all the places in the world, I was looking at a man in the back of a U.S. military humvee wearing a cowboy hat.

"Y'all from the States?" he asked.

I'm not sure if it was my Minnesota Golden Gophers tshirt that gave it away, I doubt it, but we all nodded and asked who he was.

Well, sure enough, it was the assistant ambassador for the United States to Italy. So, would our parent's tax dollars get us a ride back to our hotel in the humvee?

"Sorry guys, these MPs would even shoot me if I let you try to get in here," he lied.

It was understandable for security reasons as to why he wouldn't let us in the vehicle though, although quite disappointing because it was going to be quite a long walk all the way back to our hotel in 100+ degree temperatures.

We made the long walk though, ducking into as many air conditioned shops as we could to pretend we were actually interested in the merchandise, and eventually made it back. By this point I was absolutely exhausted and was in no mood to go anywhere else, but the rest of the group, after freshening up a bit, decided to head on over to the coliseum.

I was in no mood for the walk though, only wanting water and a nap, so I stayed back at the hotel and got that much needed rest. A friend of mine that was on the trip with me, and not actually from my high school, bought me a really cool Metallica shirt while they were out though, and I was quite pleased...unfortunately the shirt only got one use, later that night at the Spanish Steps, before it shrunk to where it could only possibly be used as a halter top.

The night at the Spanish Steps with one of my first beers was nice, particularly since it's just an international and tourist hang out spot, but it's the chance meeting of the U.S. assistant ambassador and the long walk across Rome that I'll never forget about this great and memorable trip that also included Greece.

And really, it's this tour of these two ancient countries, Greece and Italy, that has truly ignited my interest in travel and pushed me on to see so many other great places in this diverse world. My only regret is that there are still so many new and exciting places to see and, because of that, Greece and Italy are now towards the bottom of my list on places to see since I've already been there.

Someday though, maybe not soon, but someday, I'll get back there and experience more of these two interesting countries.