Visitors' Weekend.

I am having the best weekend with my parents and roommates here. Not only is it wonderful to hang out with them, but their presence has forced Alex and me to go out and explore Rome more. Since we've been here, I'm ashamed to admit, we've either traveled on weekends or stayed safely inside our comfort zones. Not so this weekend.

This morning we went back to the Vatican to explore Saint Peter's Basilica, which was pretty cool. It's beautiful, like all churches are, but it was just too big for me. If I were designing my own personal cathedral, it wouldn't be quite so mammoth. We wandered around for a bit and then Alex, Virginia and Alena attended the small mass they hold every hour in the basilica. I waited outside. People watching interests me a lot more than Catholic mass. Maybe it's the whole excommunicated thing, but mass just makes me uncomfortable.

After that, we went took Alena and Virginia to the Church of San'Ignazio, where Alex and I had our drawing class last week. The church is gorgeous. Its ceiling was painted by an American, which means its one of the only art works in Europe that has Native Americans in it. Just look for the feathers. It's really cool. 

I met up with my parents this afternoon at their hotel, which is mercifully closer than the one they stayed at last week and we went back to Dar Poeta. That place has the best pizza I've ever had. My parents were telling me all about their two days in Ravello, and I've decided I'm going there someday. For sure. We ate pizza, we drank wine, we talked, we laughed. Yay parental visits. Just look how freakin' cute they are:

Dad and mom at their fancy dinner in Ravello.

Also, their hotel bed is infinitely more comfortable than the military cot I sleep on at my apartment. I'm so jealous. 

PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME LEAVE THIS BED.