roamin' bus to boat

There was a woman who took notes... and I was never that person. I learned my lesson! Never again will I not have a pen and pad of paper in hand... 

I can't remember what the heck these buildings are.. but aren't they lovely? ha!

There were 'ruins' everywhere. Rome is called "The Eternal City" because there is no chronological order to their buildings in the city; they build and they preserve. Just behind this picture, there was a person lying on the street near the sidewalk, surrounded by policemen (he'd just been hit by a car or vespa - we never found out! hopefully he was just fine... yikes!).

Below, the tour guide called this the "ancient facebook" where people would congregate to share ideas, opinions and social updates. I thought that was a clever metaphor.

First glimpse of the Colosseum, or the real name we learned, the Flavian Amphitheatre. It was interesting to hear all about what went on inside.. I'm both sad and relieved that I never got to/ had to witness it. Only that 'naughty girls' were allowed inside the walls, so the 'eligible girls' (the ones that men would want to marry) would go sit in a nearby park and hear updates as they'd come.. crazy things, right?

It was a beautiful structure:

But even more beautiful, is my sister! Aww:

Look at how HUGE those statues of the saints are on top.. sooo big.. I'm glad I wasn't in charge of hoisting those things up there:

Then it was off to the ship for us. We were both awestruck:

The fun continued:

We weren't alone looking like idiots:

* a special prize should be given to anyone who notices all the weird things in these pictures. There are plenty of odd looks from strangers, plumber pants.. or.. you name it, you'll probably spot it!

When in Rome

Tessa and I met up in Minneapolis, MN to fly on together; through JFK to get to Rome. I had a close call with airsickness on the third flight.. but thankfully got some Dramamine down in time to just pass out the rest of the 7 hours. We landed in Rome and were picked up by our chauffeur in a Mercedes (we thought we were hot stuff, but then we came to realize that Mercedes are like the Honda of Europe.. but we still loved it!), then taken to our hotel; the Hotel de Principi. 

A concierge at the hotel gave us a map and circled all of the things we wouldn't see on our  bus tour the  next day, so we had some goals to meet. We took a taxi to the Vatican first, then walked the rest of the city, weaving in and out through streets that sometimes did and sometimes did not appear on the map we had.. Trying to avoid the speeding vespas, honking horns, and read the street names in the building sides was something all together different than experiences we've had in the US. 

Vatican City:

Deciding not to pay the seemingly hundreds of Euros for a guided tour, we walked the 15 minutes around the gate to the front of the museum entrances, paying 15 Euros each, and being able to go as fast as we needed to, to make the rest of the sites before nightfall:

The Sphere:

a hallway full of statues:

one of the many domed ceilings:

Lots of these pictures I took just to be able to stare at later, just to buy us some time... I love seeing the detail in all of these carvings:

I cannot imagine how much time it took to weave these tapestries, or to paint these walls and ceilings. I kept thinking about the law of consecration in our church, and how we are supposed to devote our time, money and talents to the efforts of the church. These artists are a shining example of that to me! (I'm not certain all of them went unpaid, but I imagine they did)

The Sistine Chapel: I thought I had missed the Creation of Adam... but can you find it? Sure glad I broke the rules and took some pictures! ha!

Winding through the streets of Rome was one of my favorite experiences of the entire trip. Something so cozy about how small the alleys and streets are, people nestled in together, with gelato shops appearing out of nowhere, and the smell of Italian cooking in the air. Everything, delicious.

Piazza Navona:

The Pantheon:

Piazza di Montecitorio

Then we passed the Piazza Colonna, but I didn't get a picture..

The Fontana di Trevi, or Trevi Fountain, was absolutely brimming with sightseers (and it wasn't even high season yet!)

He said, "Kill me! Kill me!" (the sword was pretty hefty)

What I thought were the Spanish Steps... I was wrong, and Tessa knew it!

Here are the real Piazza di Spagna, looking back from where we'd come:

We made it back to the hotel before nightfall, but still took a taxi to avoid the big park, which the concierge advised us not to walk through at night. From our hotel we could see St. Peter's Basilica, but just barely in this picture: