today is our last day in Rome. we ended up staying a day longer than we had originally planned, so we had to change accomodation yesterday. we spent last night in a hotel that had the loveliest old Italian man working the front desk. we showed up around 10 yesterday morning (waaaay before our check-in time) hoping that we might be able to leave our bags there for the day. he very apologetically informed us that the room he had intended for us still had people in it, but he had another room available, and suddenly, we were checked in before noon. it was kind of awesome. also, he pronounces my last name "Mackensia." Kat is delighted, because for some reason he has significantly less trouble with her last name than mine (although he thinks her first name is Katousha).

yesterday:

St. Peter's: we decided that we wanted not to get sunburns more than we wanted not to look like fools, so we were the tourists who carried umbrellas in the line (note: our umbrellas are matching shades of bright yellow). the building itself is kind of mind-boggling (as all of you who have seen it know already). we opted not to climb to the top of the dome (or cupola, as the guard whom Kat asked for directions disdainfully informed us), as it was kind of expensive, and had other stuff we wanted to do. which brings us to ...

the Hiroshige exhibit: so. cool. one of the museums (musea, if you want to be pretentious) in Rome is showing prints from the University of Hawaii's HUGE collection of Japanese artwork. the exhibit is really well-designed - walking through it was an incredibly calming experience (especially considering the heat and business of the city outside). I had not heard very much about Hiroshige before, and was completely enchanted ("blown away" didn't seem appropriate, somehow). they had a really fascinating little alcove where they demonstrated the process of woodblock printing, where they had separate prints of the black lines and each separate colour, showing step-by-step how they were layered to create the final print. they also had a number of stations throughout the exhibit where you could stamp a small travel passport of sorts with different Japanese-style stamps. I got VERY excited about this. the pamphlet that goes with the exhibit describes this as an activity to excite interest in the younger attendees. my response when Kat told me this? "whatever, we're young."

we had originally planned to go to a Da Vinci exhibit afterwards, but ended up deciding it was too expensive. instead, we went to the area near the Circus Maximus (which now just looks like a big field) to visit La Bocca della Verità, which is featured in the movie Roman Holiday. it was absurdly busy, but I was still very pleased. afterwards, we walked across the river into the Trastavere area, which Kat was under the impression was "very Roman." that turned out to be an apt description. it is really the only area in this city we've visited that seems like people could actually live there. it is as picturesque as the rest of the city, but significantly less touristy. we spent a while sitting around a fountain in a piazza watching kids play soccer and families taking walks while eating gelato. after eating dinner (pasta for me, tripe for Kat), we meandered back to our hostel, walking through many of the major Roman landmarks on our way. they remain buzzing with activity, even at night. all that really changes is that instead of selling purses, many of the vendors wandering the streets are selling these light up spinning disc things (I bought one for my brother for his birthday). truly a lovely end to our stay in Rome. next stop: Naples.