Killing Time: Catacombs Of Priscilla

Ciao Stranger,

I think I've finally settled into my new lifestyle here in Italy. It's been well over a week since my arrival and the initial rush of endorphins have died down. I no longer feel surprised when I wake up and realize I'm not in Vancouver anymore; I've come to accept that this is my new home. Travelling around by yourself has its perks. You don't have to attend to anyone else's complaints or requests, and since I'm possibly the slowest walker in the world, I know I'm not wasting someone else's time. I see what interests me, eat when I feel like it, sit when I'm tired, shop when my hands get fidgety and dance when no one's looking. "Michelle you sound like a loner." Fair statement. And perhaps I am but when I get home, I hangout with Romancouver and spend the night watching football, listening to them argue and laughing with the boys. 

I woke up and wanted to make some 年糕 for my boys to try. Aiyaaaa, it got slightly tanned again. Food is food, I scrapped off the burnt part and it's as good as new. 

Went to see the Catacombs of Priscilla and forgot about Italy's ridiculous lunch break from 12-2:30pm so I had to kill 3 hours. I went to a nearby park and took a stroll (how romantic of me), read my travel guidebook, and practised my Italian.

 Since I've always had lunch at home, this was the first time I was about to order food on my own. I was so excited to order food that I panicked and didn't know what to pick so I ended up getting plain bread...You try ordering food in Italian at a place like this, it's intimidating okay?!

 I also got a cream puff! I haven't had Beard Papa's in years so I really can't compare the two but I ordered mine in Italian so it's automatically more awesome. Nom nom nom...I devoured it while I was walking out of the store. I'm surprised I even had time to take a picture of it.

 Made it back to the Catacombs of Priscilla, an underground tunnel where over 40,000 Christians are buried, including 7 Popes. From the outside it just looks like an ordinary house but through a staircase and you'll find 3 levels of....

 This. Each shelf looking section is a tomb. Crazy right? If you were a poor Christian back in the days then this is where you would be buried. It's damp, dark and eerie down there and our tour guide had a tendency to speed walk through these tunnels so that if you wanted to catch up, you would have to run after him. He reminded me of the energizer bunny; not a good thing when you're in a series of tunnels surrounded by dead bodies.

After the tour I felt as if the day was still early so I rode the bus to find my next destination; Baths of Diocletian. What used to be the pools and baths area of the Romans is now a church. See the people carrying umbrellas? Yeah, random periods of showers showed up out of nowhere, and I was not prepared at all since it was sunny when I left earlier in the day. I ended up playing hide and seek with the weather the rest of the day. Rain? Hide inside a shopping area/church. No rain? Go go go!

 Santa Maria della Vittoria Church. A tiny church that's filled with baroque styled decorations. Sorry for the dark picture, it was cloudy outside and it was getting dark out.

 My night was cut short by the rain so I was forced to go home. Went to the wine section of my local supermarket and was amazed at their selection. There are so many different kinds I didn't even know what to look at. Uh.....eeny, meeny, miny, moe!
Michelle's Tips: want to be romantic yet you're feeling cheap? Hi honey, let's celebrate the night with a bottle of wine.
Price? 1 Euro
Your night to be? ;) ;) ;)