Days 5-6

Day 5 included more bad weather (it has been cold and rainy almost every day). We woke up and took a 3 hour Italian survival course which was very helpful, as we have struggled with basic conversation so far. As each day has gone on, we have found ourselves wishing for more varieties in food. While every single thing we have eaten has been incredible, a lot of it is similar styles of cooking/foods. Partially, this is our fault as we haven't traveled to further away districts (like Trastevere and the Jewish ghetto which has a larger immigrant population) everything nearby is pretty similar. We haven't gotten remotely close to getting sick of gelato, and likely never will. Pizza and pasta, on the other hand, are getting to be a little too common.

A lot of Day 5 we were at Billa which is our local "supermarket". It's not very large but it seems to be about as close to a Publix as we have found so far. It is located in the basement of a shopping building that seems similar to a Belk's or JCPenny.

Day 6 was a little more exciting. While it is still rainy and cold out, it warmed up a little bit. We took a trip to the Vatican district and checked out what an Italian McDonalds looked like. It was easily the fanciest McDonalds I have ever seen. You enter into a section split off from the rest of the McDonalds called McCafe, which has high quality cornettos, cappuccinos, espresso etc. The whole place was amazingly clean and modern; it felt more along the lines of a high end cafe than a McDonald's. In the back, hidden in another section, is the Ristorante portion where they serve Big Mac's and Italian style sandwiches. There is a waitress who comes around and takes your order, while waiting in line to receive the food. She carried a touch screen tablet with the menu item's and prices. We didn't order anything since we just wanted to see what an Italian style McDonald's looked like, but it was kind of nice seeing a little slice of the US in Roma, especially since it blended in so well with the rest of the city. It was much less obtrusive than what we are used to with fast food restaurants in the US.

Before we headed for the square, we stopped at a Bar (what they called coffee bars) and got a cornetto and cappuccino for only 1 Euro. The cornetto was filled with nutella on one end and a sweet cream on the other. They called it a black and white cornetto. It was even better than it sounds. The cafe was probably one of the best values we have found so far and we will definitely be back.

Below is everything from St Peter's square

Near St Peters Square

St Peters Entrance

Christmas tree still up

Nativity

Left side of square

Right side of square

Statues flanking St Peters

Statues flanking St Peters

Above the entrance

Clock on left hand side

Above door

Obelisk

Right side clock

Papal Balcony

Fountain

While it was rainy and cold, Vatican City was pretty amazing. Just the details that went into everything alone was pretty breathtaking. Similar to our trip to Vittoriano, it made you really realize that you're in Roma. Kind of a "wow" moment that made us really realize what an amazing experience this will be/has been.

Tonight we are cooking in the kitchen for the first time, so hopefully it goes well. Everything has been pretty expensive so far but split among 5 people our dinner will only cost 2 Euro.