JULY 27th

off to Seoul! whoops i mean Rome!

four days surrounded by koreans eating korean food for breakfast and dinner, it's hard not to get confused!the korean MINBAK that i talked about before had its good and bad points, but then again, everywhere does.the place was like a large 3 bedroom apartment. two rooms were full of bunk beds - one for guys and one for gals. could fit about 10 - 12 people in each room. there was a third room which i thought was just for the family who runs the place to sleep in, but they've even got a coupla extra beds in there just in case things get extra crowded!25 euro per person. full korean breakfast and dinner included. one computer for free internet use. the mother does your washing for you!a couple and their daughter live there and provide everything!every morn and night, there was a different main dish served with rice and four side dishes every meal! and this was real hunky dory korean food! some of the best i've tasted! the first night, we had a fatty roast pork dish and there seemed to be a fair bit left over, so i was sure that's what we were gonna be eating for breakfast. but no! next morning was grilled fish!kimchi for breakfast can be a hard thing to get used to, but one learns to embrace it like a lover! :-)of course the mild drawback is having garlic breath for the majority of the day, but chew enough gum and you're fine!

Roma was darn hot too. was served up lunch by the korean mumma when we arrived then we took in some sights.headed to a huge building that's the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and a monument to Emmanuelle the 2nd (will have to double check that). the place was made of white marble and had lots of large statues adorning the building. the centre piece was a massive statue of Emmanuelle II on a horse. the place also had an eternal flame and two guards carrying automatic weapons. witnessed a changing of the guard too which involved a lot of saluting and turning around.at the gate to walk up the steps of this monument, there is a sign stating that this place is sacred to Italian people and out of respect, no one is allowed to sit on the steps. i think there may also be a semi-dress code cos i think one chick was turned away for too much exposed midriff. no probs for us though. but i wanted to check what this place was about in my Lonely Planet book, so about halfway up the steps, i lent up against the case pillar of a statue which was also providing some very nice shade. was reading my book when one of the guards at the gate starts blowing his whistle and gesturing for me to get away from the wall. sacred indeedy.this wasn't the only time we witnessed such an event. that night, we were in a square drinking beers with some of the people from the MINBAK which was in front of a building that i think was the ministry of agriculture. the cops did a drive by and didn't say jack, so we were fine. but later some other tourist came and sat on the wall which formed part of the square's boundary and part of the ministry's driveway. bout 10 min later the guards from the ministry noticed them and started whistling from behind their gate (obviously the night crew aren't ranked highly enough to be granted whistles!). they were whistling away and gesturing for the tourists to get off, but either they were ignoring the guards or had no idea what they were on about. 5 min later the cops rock up and get the tourists off the wall. i think Romans don't masturbate over porn, they have centrefold spreads of buildings and monuments and jerk off to those! :-)

anyway, back to the days events.after a pit stop in the shade, we walked thru the ruins of the Roman forum and various bits and pieces that are still left over. part of me was wondering why the ?@&! we were walking around looking at rocks that were a couple of millenia old but the other part of me was fascinated by how the Romans had built these structures with such detail that'd managed to survive for so long.continuing thru the ruins, we stumbled upon the Colosseum which was rather impressive to behold. decided to skip going in based on price and advice. if you are a citizen of Adelaide AND under 24 you can get in for half price, so remember that in your next lifetime or go now before you're too old! :-)

finished the evening by heading to a gelataria with Jeong Hun and Konomi (couple of friends we'd made at the Minbak) and three k-gals who were leaving the next morn. the gelati was some of the best we've had!!
Gelataria S.M. Maggiore... check it out if you can!! the chocolate was maybe too rich... but divine!!