thirty dirty days in europe I'm so pumped to take this trip and I wanted a memento/journal of stories to have when I return as well as keep all of my loved ones back home updated on my traveling!

Happy easter to everyone. Just a recap before i get into what we have been doing lately...we left greece around two days ago. We took a train and then a ferry, more a ship type deal to Bari, Italy...getting there yesterday morning around 8am. We didnt want to pay for a room so we all slept on the floor of the seating area, yuck! But it saved us some Euros. The ship was fun though. We boarded around 2pm and headed up to the top deck to explore, where we met a very very cool greek bartender named Dimos. He entertained us for well into the night, discussing everything from why every beautiful woman in the world has greek ancestry somehow to why american politics suck. We also met a turkish trucker that upright told us he hated all americans and then we also met a very not so sober bulgarian guy that watched us play cards and repeated almost everything we said in english. So after hitting the floor, literally, for a restless nights sleep, we woke up and walked into the world of Bari. We only had a few hours before we had to catch a train to Rome, so we headed out on the street...people watched, ate some pizza, and then got back on the road. We got into Rome around 7pm and had a few places picked out that we wanted to check out and possibly stay at, so we headed to a pay phone to get directions over the phone. All of a sudden, we have a couple legit looking enlish speaking old men asking us if we need a place to stay. They have information TOURIST badges on their coats, so we listen. They tell us that everything is booked in the city, they are our only hope. hmmmm. They say for the four of us, they have a room for 120 euros. hmmm. We are hesitant, but they say its only five minutes away, they will walk with us there so we can check it out. We ask them what the name of it is and....they have no answer. Its a bed and breakfast they say. Yea, i say, but whats the name of it. still no reply. hmmm. So altogether, very hesitantly but trying to be hopeful, we follow them to their so called B&B. Once we arrive around a few barren bends, this guy opens a large NAMELESS door for us to see a dark staircase with a flickering light. Go check it out he says. I say, hmm, that light is flickering. That is what all bed and breakfasts in Rome are like, he says. Wow, then that sucks. Heidi and Dan head up the stairs to check it out while Blake and I stay on the street ready to run for help if anything gets shady, even though, needless to say, it already was shady! Dan leans out the window upstairs and says its okay, so blake and I decide to check it out as well while Heidi comes down to stand guard, haha. It turned out to be what seemed like some guys apartment he was trying to act like was a B&B. It had four beds, a bathroom and was actually pretty decent...except for the fact that dont B&Bs usually have other people staying in them? All of a sudden, some hair slicked italian guy walks through the door, introduces himself and asks us if we would like to stay the night. We all look at eachother,hmm. No on my end. He bargains us down a few euros. And then when we ask him where breakfast is served, he replies...in bed. Umm, i think not. We all head downstairs, see ya later. Sorry that story was so so long! It was just really intense! So after getting far away from there, we hop on the subway to get to the other side of Rome where there is a hostel, a real one! This is where the smelly part comes in. All of us had last showered two days before, worn the same clothes for two days becuase we didnt have a room on the ship...so we reaked. Well, i kind of smelled the most. And i didnt really realize it til we were on the packed, literally sardines on the subway and blake said he smelled something. It turns out it was me. And everyone squeezed up against me smelled it too. What made things worse was that in order to hang on, i had hang on to the bar above....exposing all the odor to anyone within three foot range. Anyways, my friends still love me. We ended up finding room at the real hostel, its amazing and they have showers!!!! and we are staying three nights here. I think blake is going to cook for us night three, they have a pretty sweet kitchen here. Anyways, We went to Mass this morning at the Vatican, got there super early by accident and ended up in the first section of seating in the front. We were there for about 4 hours, but it was a coool experience. Then we grabbed some lunch at a really cool family run italian place and ate some really yummy pasta. And then we roamed around the colloseum area all day. We are staying here today and the next and then heading off to Florence for a few days. Rome so far is beautiful and the people are very very friendly, a nice change from the grumpies in greece. Anyways, I apologize this post was crazy long, i had some time and some funny stories i wanted to pass on! Hope Easter was nice for everyone.I will catch up to this the next chance i get!