Walking on the shady side of the street

I am loving Rome. It's hot and full of tourists, but that's ok because it's beautiful and there's lots to things to explore. I've located the few places in Rome that sell vegan gelato and have been eating it daily, but alternating between the stores so the staff don't get suspicious. Spaghetti pomodoro and pizza marina are also featuring pretty heavily in my diet at the moment.

I went to The Vatican yesterday, and even though I'm happy I went, I'm also happy to say that that is one country I will never be visiting again, haha. The crowds were just horrendous.

This is in the hallway leading up to the Sistine Chapel. Photography is forbidden inside the Sistine Chapel because a Japanese company (Nikon, I think?) cleaned it a few years ago and now have the copyright on it.

This is me, in St. Peters Square. Just finished the 3 hour tour and was in the process of getting as far away from any person/crowd as I could manage. Behind me is St. Peters Basilica, which was beautiful to be inside and look at, but as I said I was a little sick of all the crowds at that point, so I barely spent more than 5 minutes in there.

Tonight is my last night in Europe and tomorrow I will be getting on a plane to Singapore. I am MOST EXCITED about this. I would like to go out and be all crazy tonight, but to be honest I just don't see it happening. I might just stuff myself with enough pasta to hold me off until the next time I come to Italy and call it a night.

So I get back to Perth in... 9 days now (!!!) and I'm so excited to see my friends and family. I'm also interested to see how things have changed, and, in that, ever-so-slightly worried about how I will cope with these changes as I encounter them. I'm expecting to see changes within my friends group (which is something I cannot control, so no point in worrying), as well as in my personal relationships with certain individuals (which is something that I can control... or really, I can control my part within said relationship). Um, so yeah, there's that.

I'm hoping to put up another post or two before finishing up this blog, but still, the end is fast approaching. I like blogging, I'm really glad I chronicled my exchange/travel adventures. It'll be interesting to look back on once I'm done.

Ciao,

Cathryn.