Day 2 - The Roots of Rome

Our day began with a complimentary espresso and croissant at the caffe across the street. After the blunder of purchasing a bottle of water "with gas" we decided we needed to pick up the energy, so we took a tour of the city on the roof of a double-decker bus. This tour helped us see the major areas and made us realize that we were not going to be able to see it all.... but we were excited to try. After the tour, we headed to the Roman Forum, which is essentialy a graveyard of Ancient Rome's crown jewel neighborhood. We used a tour guide (mainly to skip the lines), however we were pleasantly surpised to find that he himself was a fellow hoss.  Our tour then proceeded to the Coliseum where we were sadly handed off to a new tour guide. He was very knowledgable, however his thick italian accent left us nodding and smiling at what is believed to have been some form of communication. We were given some time to roam the arena on our own and this is when things got interesting. Justin, being the adventurer he is, decided to take a gamble by walking along the wall pretending to be a gladiator. While Justin did his best to flex and pose, the rest of us proceeded to focus on the ruins. We heard a loud yelp and when we turned around, all that was left was his size 11 Nike. We got the police involved and it appears he was probably attacked by lions (or kittens). After a few (short) minutes of mourning, we moved on. The three of us went back to the hotel for wine before dinner at Trattoria Der Pallaro (per recommendation from our tour guide). We were told that this place takes a keen eye to find but was one of the best in Rome. We walked in and were greeted by Nonna Paula, the head chef and hossette who makes the experience a special one. Shortly after being seated, we were simply presented with a number of appetizers and house wine. This marked the beginning of a 5-course meal that left us in a food coma. Justin came out of nowhere during the appetizer. Scientists believe he was brought back to life simply from the smell. After the meal, we couldn't resist asking for a picture with our collective new grandmother and a kiss on the check before heading out. Shorthereafter, we ran into a number of American students who led us to a karaoke bar called Scholars. With the confidence of a fantastic meal and numerous bottles of wine, we were primed to take our talents to the stage. The video footage (attained from TMZ) shows small sections of the performaces from both Justin/Kyle (Mambo #5) and Alex/Ed (Hey Ya).