Jeff and Reiter in Europe 2013

Happy birthday to me! Woke up at 8, said goodbye to Hostel friends, and took train to Rome.  Checked in at Hostel, which is super nice with nice guy in charge. Wow! Rome!  So much to do here, so much to see!  So much history!  And I feel safer here than I did in Paris! We took the bus into Rome, ate subway, then went square hopping. You can't walk 10 feet in Rome without bumping into something monumental.  On the stairs down from lunch we saw an excavation and a gigantic marble pillar with a bas relief going in spiral pattern from top to bottom. I felt compelled to go into every cathedral/church we passed, and as a result we went into 8 - just accidentally on the way to our destinations!  I'll list them here for posterity, and most of them were Cathedral size. Basilica de S. Marie:  This is the most unique cathedral I've ever seen! At least 50 crystal chandeliers, marble everywhere.  It looked more like a palac...

Woke up and headed immediately to the train station.  Took an hour long train ride to Piza, saw the cathedral, which was nice.  Climbed the tower, Which was fun and super disorienting to go up! Ate lunch there.  People say Piza is dangerous, but I felt more threatened in Paris. Got back at 4:00ish, which was way later than we wanted.  Went to Santa Croce Cathedral.  This awesome cathedral has the tombs of Galileo, Machiavelli, Marconi, and Michelangelo.  There was also a dedication to Dante, which was cool.  The main edifice, with Jesus hanging from the cross, was undergoing renovations, so the whole area was filled with scaffolding.  Looked like a modern art exhibit inside a church. Had an early dinner at a great and cheap sandwich place.  We each ordered one sandwich.  We were so impressed that, upon finishing, we both immediately ordered the exact same thing! Then went to the Uffizi Gallery where we s...