Ciao from Italy ~ Rome

We just spent last week in Europe ~ ITALY!!! Mark had one more week of free flights after his internship ended so we took full advantage and left Durham the afternoon of the 8th and got to Rome the morning of the 9th. We picked up some paninis at the subway station and ate them as we admired the Colosseum from its base. After lunch we took a tour of the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and the hill where the emperors built their castle. It was AWESOME!

Our view from the hotel was great with a perfect display of St. Peter's Basilica on the Vatican grounds and the rolling hills of Rome!

Day II was spent mostly walking! We started in the Plaza de Popolo.

Then walked to Trevi Fountain (25 minute walk). We took a few pictures. I tossed a coin into the fountain, and hopefully it will work. They say if you toss a coin in the waters you will return to Rome one day!

After the fountain we walked to the Pantheon(20 min walk) which was one of Mark's favorite places. It is one of the oldest churches in the world and still remains in use since 31 BC (this includes pagan, polytheistic, & christian religions) and has been redone multiple times due to fire and other destruction's of the building!

We walked again, and found ourselves at the Fountain of 4 Rivers. Do you recognize it from Angels & Demons? After another 20-30 minutes of walking we went to the Spanish Steps and sat down for some much needed rest! We finished the day back in the Plaza Popolo for dinner.

All over Rome they have free water fountains that come in from the Aqueducts. We filled our water bottle at least 4 or 5 times every afternoon and still ended up dehydrated. The only good thing about being dehydrated is we didn't have to use the bathroom. Unlike in the U.S. where you have to buy water bottles but restrooms are free, in Italy there is free water but you have to pay 1 Euro to use a Public bathroom, which are few and far between.

Pizza is the food of choice in Italy. Almost every place you could buy food you could get a Panini or Pizza! Some of it was better than others. Much to my disappointment, none of the pizza featured Pepperoni, but it sure was good! They make their crust better in Italy than any of the American joints do! I don't think delivered pizza will ever sound quite as good as it used to now that I have been spoiled with the real thing! In the small corner shops they sell you the pizza buy the pound. You tell them where to cut, they weigh it, and then charge you based on that number. I think that's pretty smart, because you get exactly the right amount! Our lunch day two was Pizza, but dinner was Pizza & Pasta (could it really be a great visit if I didn't eat pasta?).

Day III (notice my wonderful Roman Numerals) we went to the Vatican. We signed up for an English tour, which was a smart decision. The guide was much more knowledgeable than we would have been! The Vatican is tourist friendly, but only if you read Italian or buy a guide book (neither of which we did). The tour included the Vatican museums, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica. Mark took an illegal picture inside the Sistine Chapel, but it didn't turn out very clear because it had dim lighting and we didn't have a tripod to use the aperture priority setting. Hopefully you can recognize the very famous reaching hands of Adam & God on the ceiling of the Chapel in the picture below to theright. The most famous wall painted by Michelangelo is the first picture.

These are pictures of the Basilica. It was an amazing building! We even got to see one of THE Most famous sculptures in the world, the Pieta by Michelangelo is the only piece of art he signed and depicts the Virgin Mary holding the recently crucified Jesus Christ. The picture to the left is of us standing in St. Peter's Square.

This is part 1 of the trip and we will follow-up later with our finish to the trip in Venice.