These boots AREN'T made for walkin'...

Guest blogger Paula again with another eyewitness report of the most enthralling happenings of Per and Paula. Well, not so much enthralling but here is what I've got...

Since Per sobered up (by the way he forgot to mention that he left the camera at the restaruant when his "world was spinning"...luckily the waiter came running after us) we have made quite a journey. First Crete to athens via overnight not super comfortable ferry, though Per did let me sleep on the couch while he slept first in two rock hard chairs then on the linoleum floor (he's such a good hubbie). Then via plane from Athens to Roma...which was much more comfortable and they even served food and didn't charge us for our checked baggage!! I didn't know airlines did that anymore. Amazing!

Anyway, as we had a half day in Athens before we had to catch our plane, we visited the National Archelogical Museum which was quite impressive though I did feel that I'd seen many of the antiquities before in the smaller museums that we'd visited. We pressed on though and despite sore feet and mushy minds (I am not a museum girl, hard as I try, I'm better outside enjoying natural surroundings) I felt we put in a solid showing at the museum...3 hours is pretty darn good! We also visited a local market, saw some freshly caught fish and freshly cut meat (took picts for Ani...yum yum), visited the Plaka and had one last gyro (oh how I will miss them) and cafe before heading to the airport and a bit more harry potter...love it!

So on to the airport and to Roma! We got into our place, took showers and crashed. to be blunt we both stunk and we're quite tired since we'd been in the same clothes for 2 days with very little sleep. Then, this morning, drill sergeant Per had us up at 0645 and off to the Vatican to start a day of walking, and more walking, and, just to top it off, a little more walking. I wish I had a pedometer! We got appropriately dressed (no shorts or tanks for the vatican...and I even put on a necklace and my new cute red shoes which are Merrils...I know you all thought I put heels on or something didnt you...not so...but they could have used a bit more breaking in before today) and off we went. St Peter's Basilica was amazing! absolutely gorgeous. Really can't be described. I was particularly excited to see the Pieta by Michelangelo which did not disappoint. We again put in a solid hour plus showing (with the assistance of an audio guide to lengthen our stay) before we rushed off to the Vatican Museums. Again...amazing...tons of cool incredible stuff which can't really be described. Definately worth seeing though. I did find it a bit odd that there are a ton of "pagan" works there...Greek and Roman gods and what not which are more beautiful than those in the National museum in Greece...seems a bit wrong to me but that's just my opinion. The rapheal rooms and Sistine Chapel were stunning. Per got some contraband photos of the Chapel but got stopped in the midst of one of his famousn panoramics...it would have been an entire circle.

From the Vatican we did a walking tour of Roma. And, yes, for those concerned, we did stop at the AS Roma store to try and get tickets to the Roma v Fiorentina game on saturday. Oddly enough, the tics are only available in Florenece so we have another soccer related project for tomorrow...woohoo! We also spent a good half our trying to find a specifically recommended gelato place...for those that know Per...you understand. We didn't find it...turns out the address was wrong...but we found a replacement. From there visited the Pantheon...freakin' big dome which makes it totally not conducive to picts...jeez...the forum, spanish steps, trevi fountain and a bunch of other stuff we happened to along the way. We had a nice din din at Campo di Fiori amidst the thunder and lighting (per made the excellent observation that due to the high number of bronze statues around the town it's unlike that you'll be struck by lightening) and then came on back to our place...to check email and learn that our tics to the liverpool match have arrived safely in scotland (thanks lou).

Tomorrow is another big day of visiting the colosseum and palatine, then to florence and the doumo! my red shoes might have to be put away...bring back my tennis shoes!

Happy day to all and much love and special thanks to our parents again for taking care of our animals. kisses and hope that wasn't too boring!

Oh and we can't post photos from the computer we're using. probably a good thing since we probably took 200 today (not joking) and it would probably take too long to figure out what we should include and we're too tired to deal with that at the moment.