"...and no gas with my cappuccino, please."

I have succesfully traveled to Rome and back with myself and Lindsay. Two girls against the world...and burly border patrol men who think its fun to wake people up every time you are even partially asleep to check your passport, or your ticket, or both. Plus side to this, I have about 10 more stamps on my passport - traveling by train has its perks.
Rome was unreal, we saw basically all the main sites; Coliseum, Roman forum, smaller forums, sacred area, Pantheon, Palatine hill, Circus Maximus, Vatican, Sisteen Chapel, St. Peter's Basillica, Trevi fountain, Spanish steps, Monument to Victor Emanuel II, and the tomb of the unkown soldier. Out of all of them the Pantheon was my favorite, by far. It is immensly beautiful and so obviously thousands of years old. Yet, it is strong and full of marbles of colors and a dome that is tremendous and looks way better than the one in St.Peter's (no offense to michelangelo or anything). One of the best parts of being in Rome was walking aimlessly through the streets, happening upon little shops and resturants, or churches that had been there for who-knows-how-long built by who-know-who, nestled in and amoung the busy streets and modern buildings. It really is quite a beautiful city to see.
Also, I have to mention that Lindsay and I never got lost and barely used our map. We walked around the city pretty much everyday but, our last full day there we conquered the metro, subway, and bus ways all in one day. It was a good time.
One of the things that struck me so much about Rome was how western it felt (and is) compared to the part of the world we have been living in. It was really uncanny to be able to eat meals at any number of different resturants and have pretty much anything available to you ... including many modern convieniences that I have too often taken for granted.
Also, as we read in our books...and something that really hit me hard...there are a lot of homeless people and/or beggers on the streets of Rome. One thing that really caught my eye about the majority of them was how most of them were so obviously crippled. Outside of St.Peter's there was a man who had both of his legs poorly amputated, we saw a man with his arm cut of, and another child with very, very mishappen feet.
Growing up in the states I have always heard not to give people on the streets money because they might go spend it on alcohol or drugs. For some reason, I don't feel like this was the case for most of the people there and even so, I really didn't care that much at the time. I agree that the best thing one can give people is tools to help themselves but, sometimes we really, really fail to meet the physical needs of people; food, water, shelter. I am not sure that by walking by them instead of giving them money really helps anything. Granted, most people say "give them food instead of money" but, how many people actually do that. I do not know hat kind of organizations, ministries, and establishments there are in Rome to help them but, seeing a person so obviously in need with the steeple of St.Peter's right behind was quite troubling. We did a little to help some of them but, not really anything that I feel counts.
Lindsay and I were talking about this on the way back on the train. We started talking about the parable of the good samaritan. I think it is probably one of the most commonly heard parables in the bible, it gets drilled into you at a young age, almost every VBS curriculum contains it and, I am starting to wonder if hearing it soo much has made it loose some of its meaning. I don't know, this is just me pondering aloud.
BUT! Rome was amazing and a much needed break. It was quite a blessing and a miracle that we made it home safe, sound, refreshed, and ready for the downhill slide of this semester and our time in Romania.
Peace!