Essential Rome in 36 hours by Tere and CY:

Day 1

01:00-03:15 waiting outiside Pisa Centrale for the night train. Acted homeless and napped on bench, road, platform with dozens of fellow student backpackers.
03:20-07:00 slept on and off on the night train, only to be rudely awoken by conductor with limbs all sprawled out in deep sleep.
08:00 San Pietro Cathedral in the Vatican. Splendid enough to make moi, christian-non-apparent, consider acting religious and open mouth in awe.
09:15 Lost Tere after she went to confession [the first time in years for Tere]
10:00 got impatient with fruitless search for Tere and went up to the Cupola of S. Pietro. My my, was it a hike. Endless spiral stairs that get narrower and narrower as you hike up and hyperventilate. Not recommended for the physically unfit on a blazingly hot day.
Though view of Piazza S. Pietro was well-worth the killer hike + all the nasty sweat that make you glisten like an oiled Thanksgiving turkey.
10:50 Tere appears like an apparition as I came out of the Cupola stairs. Apparently God rewards those who redempt.
11:45 The Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. Unwisely brought B+W film when everything around me is in glorious, if not gaudy, Baroque technicolour. The fabled chapel with all the Michaelangelo murals was packed with ppl. Any contemplative / appreciating mood for the sumptuous art surrounding me promptly vapourised at the sight of the touristy crowds.
15:30 Colosseum. More tourists, which make the Real McCoy look even smaller.
16:45 Attempt to go to the Pantheon. Hopped on to a bus and ended up in some piazza behind a monmouth governmental palace.
17:20 Pantheon Take 2. Lovely lady sign-languaged us in the right direction off the bus. More people. I spewed out everything I learnt about this building from lectures and became Tere's tourguide.
18:10 Piazza Navona. Lovely fountain. Lots of pigeons attacking Bernini's sculptures.
18:25 Fountain of Trevi. Heat-stroke induced hallucinations of self swooning through the tourist-infested waters of the fountain a la Anita Ekberg in La Dolce Vita. But due to the "People Mountain People Sea" effect, and Tere's disuation, the Tripping One decided she'd be better off making an offering to the Fountain Wishgranter / Money Collector instead.
19:00 Il Gelateria de San Crispo.... my my. See full details below.
21:45 Walk walk walking past the Spanish Steps back to hotel. Eye bedazzled by the $$$$$ shops on the way. Smelly armpits does not a pleasant Metro ride make.

Day 2 -

09:30 S. Pietro again. This time to deliver Tere's family's petitions for prayer.
> Piazza Venezia
> Capitoline Hill; Piazza Campogiano
> Roman Forum
> Via del Corso
> Spanish Steps
> Piazza del Popolo
> Picipoli Park
> Roma Termini Station; Eurostar train back to Pisa
21:40 Stolen Firenze-Pisa train plaque from Pisa Centrale station. Yes! My first act of delinquency in Italia.
Now what should I do with the god-damn-it's-heavy sign?
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Amo Roma!

I must have seen 70% of all the Italian buildings I've ever seen in my Architectural History lectures. Love the ubiquitous fountains, the obelisks, the endless avenues, the gigantic parks, the whole palava. Rome may well become my second fave city ;D