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ST. GEORGE HOTEL
Life's not too bad when you're lucky enough to check-in to a brand new, five-star, 64-room deluxe boutique hotel in Rome. The St. George is a member of the WORLDHOTELS Deluxe Collection and the place is styling. It's so plush and modern; there are no lingering signs of its historic origins. In 1508, Pope Julius II commissioned the building to be used as the Palace of the Courts (Palazzo dei Tribunali) but that never happened. I'm not sure what it was used for instead, but I do know that earlier this year, a total restoration of the building took place and the hotel is now a quiet, sophisticated, comfortable escape from the hustle and bustle of Rome. St. George Roma, Via Giulia 62 00186, Rome, Italy, Tel: +39 (06) 686611, Fax: +39 (06) 68661230.

ELEGANT ROOMS
Our room was on the fifth floor, the top floor of the hotel. Because our room was located in the corner of the building, the ceilings were slanted but the place was so large it didn't matter. Like the lobby of the hotel, the rooms are elegantly designed with contemporary furniture and boast the latest technology: flat screen TV with on-demand movies, wireless Internet (12 euro or $16USD for 24 hours) and outlets to fit US electronics, just to name a few.

SPA
After all the food Mike's parents had fed me during my stay with them, I thought I should take advantage of the hotel gym. Unfortunately, it was located in the basement next to the spa. The moment I stepped off the elevator, my knees nearly buckled from the tranquil feeling emanating from the spa. As you might guess, I'm off to one heck of a workout, huh? The spa's low lighting and soothing music stole over me, making me want to do anything but pump iron. I quickly glanced at the overpriced list of massage treatments, had a glass of fresh pineapple juice and sampled a couple of the sweet, delicate treats that were just staring up at me from a silver tray. In fact, I'm sure I heard those same sweet treats whispering, "Don't work out, Johnny Jet! Eat me instead, then go for a private dip in the Turkish bath." And that's exactly what I did. Now that's an Italian-style workout!

BREAKFAST BUFFET
An Italian breakfast usually consists of a cappuccino and a cornetto, which is similar to a croissant but smaller. Well, this is not the case at the St. George. As the hotel caters mostly to Americans, it offers a full breakfast buffet. But here, it's not about quantity but quality. The food was top-notch and everything was deliciously fresh, from the juices and the fruit salad to the scrambled eggs. Breakfast can be eaten either in the restaurant or out in the quiet courtyard. Even better, there's no need to get up early; it's served from 6:30am to 11am. Besides choosing the spa over the gym, what really killed my good intentions of getting back in shape was the chocolate torte sitting smack in the middle of the buffet. Why they'd offer this for breakfast, I don't know. Must be some sick joke. Even though all the other diners seemed to demonstrate restraint, I didn't. I went to town on that bad boy before moving on to its neighbor, the cherry pie. Mmm! Mmm! Mmm! Scrumptious. TIP: Be sure to negotiate breakfast into your room rate, which begin at 170 euro ($232USD) a night, otherwise breakfast will run you 30 euro ($41USD). Ouch!

EXPLORING
The best part about the St. George besides, of course, its incredible breakfast buffet, comfy rooms and friendly, English-speaking staff, is its location. Campo dei Fiori, Piazza Navona, the Vatican City and Castel St. Angelo are all just a stone's throw away. In fact, I could see the top of the Vatican from my room. How cool is that? The hotel is situated on a sleepy, residential street called Via Giulia. Two blocks down the street is an Anti-Mafia police station (no wonder it's so quiet!) and it's also home to many priests and nuns. Sounds like the perfect neighbors to me. There's a small café a few doors down so instead of spending 5 euro ($6.80USD) for a bottle of water from the in-room mini-bar, I walked down the street, where I could purchase bottled water for 1 euro ($1.36USD).

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