The next stop on our Italian vacation was Rome.
After checking into the convent where we stayed, we made our way to explore Ancient Rome. First we went into the Colosseum! Even though, I have been here multiple times, it still blows me away every time. For this trip, I downloaded walking tours led by Rick Steves. He gives good tours with good information splashed with his totally dorky humor. I love it! You will notice in a lot of these pictures, we have our earphones in. No, it's not because we are bored of each other, it is because we are listening to our buddy, Rick (or as Lindsay says, Steve).
We then headed to the Roman Forum. Again, we followed a good tour by Rick.
I really enjoyed having my new camera!
This is the entry-way to a big meeting area (which no longer exists). You can just barely see Lindsay standing by it, she is tiny in comparison. I have been to the Forum at least 5 times, and this was my first time seeing this (I had never noticed it before)! I can't get over that! That is just one of the cool things about Rome, there is SO much that it is a new experience every time!
I though this was kind of a cool view looking through the arch to the Colosseum.
A good cousin picture as we were leaving the forum.
We then headed to the other "biggies" in Rome.
The Trevi Fountain.
(We made a trip here both during the day and then again at night. There is always SUCH a big crowd there, but it is still an impressive sight!)
The Pantheon.
There was a mass going on when we got there, so we had to wait for it to let out. But it sure was nice to give our little "uffizies" a break. (heehee, that's a little joke for you Linds!)
After our LONG day, we found this great restaurant for supper - thanks Rick! It was a great meal and was clearly much more fun with this liter of wine! We were pretty giggly by the end of our meal! Our feet hardly hurt at all walking back to the convent! :o)
The next morning, we woke up early and made our way to Vatican City to meet for our tour of the Vatican Museum ending with the Sistine Chapel.
It was SO SO busy!! We were there just before Palm Sunday, so I am sure a lot of people were coming into town for Holy Week. Look at that stream of people coming out of the Basilica (!!!!) we were very happy to get away from the crowds!
As you can see in this picture, the square was covered with chairs getting ready for the Palm Sunday service. We both decided we would much rather watch it on TV then be in that mess, what a nightmare that would be for me!
We spent the rest of the day visiting the Jewish Getto in Rome. It was really interesting and, again, a place I had never been. There were really good ruins there too!
Pompeii
The next day was another early morning. We headed to Naples and then onto Pompeii. Lindsay teaches her second graders about Pompeii, so she was especially excited for this stop on the trip!
This is the main square in Pompeii with Mount Vesuvius in the background.
This place really is amazing! It was destroyed by the volcano eruption in 79 AD, but when you are walking the streets it is impossible not to be impressed with how advanced they were!
Here is their "small" amphitheater. We also visited the larger one, it is large even by today's standards! How did they do all this without cranes and machinery?!
After these busy few days in Rome, we headed back to Florence for a day. (This is actually when we went to the Fiorentina game.) Then it was on to our next stop, my favorite place in Italy...
No comments:
Post a Comment