"A Canopy of Pelvises"

Heyo! Tibby here!

Our morning began as a triage center...yes, a triage center. All four of our feet are very achy, sore, and blistering. And it's all a sign of a good time! Poor Kyla has the worst blisters : [ 

 Kyla's foot

 All of the bandages Kyla has to use for her feet!

 Tibby's feet...not as bad as Kyla's, but definitely being broken in nonetheless.

Once our triage center was closed, we moved on with our morning and took our time eating breakfast (Kyla had FIVE breakfast servings...it must be those blisters), posting pictures to facebook, updating this junket journal and making our plans for the rest of the day. 

Our first mission today was to head over to Campo dei Fiori, which is a fabulous outdoor market in a quaint little piazza. Oh the life of Italians.

We ended up making a few purchases, one of which being some colorful, crazy pasta from this stand.

After our market shopping we had to make a quick pit stop to buy more bandages for Kyla's feet. We then broke for lunch and made our way over to the Capuchin Catacombs. Folks, these are NOT your average catacombs. Not that there really is an "average" catacomb, but this certainly isn't it. 

They did not allow photos to be taken inside, but I found this one off of google.

Creepy, isn't it?!! I won't bog you down with too many details, but basically, approximately 3,700 skeletons were used throughout each of the 5 rooms. Every bone is arranged strategically and every room has different spiritual messages. For example, in the google photo, above the skeleton in the middle, there is an hourglass (made of bones, of course). It symbolizes the swiftness of life here on earth in contrast to everlasting life through Christ. Along the corridor, there are functioning chandeliers made of up different bones, often vertebrae. Other decorative elements included flower motifs of ankle bones and shoulder blades; the crown of thorns made with ribs; and unhinged jaws helped to further emphasize the eerie symmetry in the designs of each room. Adding to the eerie-ness was seeing that not all of the skeletons were fully decayed. Ew. Also, every chamber had a description of what each of the parts of the room meant. And let me tell you, they were hilarious to read. Kyla and I want to share one of our favorites with you...it went something like this: "Beneath the canopy of pelvises, is a frieze of hanging vertebrae". Haha, I mean come on, how often do you read something like that?!

After seeing more bones than I've ever seen in an anatomy class, and even more than Kyla has seen in the TV show Bones; we changed course and decided to rejoin the living. And in Rome, that means the Spanish Steps. We climbed up and down every single step, just because we could! (Our bandage jobs were holding up very well!) The steps were kinda sketchy coming down because they have certainly been well used over the years. They were not only impeccably smooth due to the polishing effects of thousands of shoe heels, but also almost seemed to dip into themselves - again the cause of heavy soles grinding the stone on which they stood down to the point where they no longer held their once-straight shape. 

The main road leading right to the Spanish Steps is one of the richest streets in the world. And by "rich street" I don't mean the cobblestones themselves are valuable, but rather that every single store on the block is, shall we say, "rollin' in the dough". The stores along this street include, but are not limited too: Prada, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Dior, Jimmy Choo, and many more.

 One of the stores we just HAD to stop in was the Ferrari store. Yes, America, can you believe it? A Ferrari store!! Items in this place include Ferrari perfume (starting prices at $50), children's clothing (exorbitant amount of dollars), and pieces of actual Ferrari cars (prices in the thousands). Inside they had their formula one racing car from 2004. 

And of course, we had to make a purchase, but we're keeping it under wraps for now. : ]

After gaping at Ferrari, we figured we might as well keep up the open-mouth trend and indulge ourselves in Burberry. And indulge we did, despite our rugged travel attire. (Stained Toms, sweaty shirts, and frazzled hair should give you the right picture). While perusing the racks of $1200 coats and dresses, Kyla picked out a dress that was an absolute steal at just $150, marked down from $300. I convinced Kyla that she just had to try it on for kicks and giggles, and she didn't need too much convincing. It wasn't long before we were spotted by a very sweet sales associate who was eager to assist us. Kyla also convinced me that I needed to try something on as well. I snapped up a button down (not so great looking) top which was also a steal at $175, marked down from $350. Yay.

Kyla went first into the dressing room and while she was in there, the sales associate and I started talking and she explained to me how she had begun learning English and French only 8 months ago. I was truly astounded at how well she could speak after only 8 months of learning thus far! I complimented her on the fact that she was doing very well communicating with me. She in turn commented that she liked "American English speakers" the best because she said we have more patience (for when she makes mistakes) than other English speakers. To be honest, that kind of surprised me a little, but I will say I felt a bit proud that Americans have made a good impression on her. 

Needless to say, neither Kyla nor I made a purchase at Burberry. Yet it will always be a fond memory of the day we tried on clothing on one of the wealthiest streets in the world. 

After we'd had our fill of wealth, we made the trek back to our quaint side of Rome and we found a picturesque restaurant for our final dinner in Rome. It was a cute little place situated along one of twisting, narrow cobblestone streets. They had tables indoors and out, and we chose the latter. Kyla dined on the house pasta; which was penne with peas and mushrooms in a white cream sauce. I had to go with the ultimate classic dish and devour some delicious spaghetti; even though I was wearing a white shirt. 

I may or may not have gotten a stain or two, but let's be honest; it's spaghetti in Rome, so it comes with the territory.

To top off an already blessed day, an accordion player slowly strolled by as we slurped down our pasta dishes.

* sigh *

It's REALLY great to be here and to be experiencing everything we are. Our feet are proof of it.

Tomorrow we bid farewell to Rome and begin to venture out into the rest of Italy.

Until then, ciao!

T