Up next on our European adventure this past summer was Rome, Italy! I think I was most excited about this stop because I hadn't been here before, and there's so much history in Rome. One of the very first things we did was head to the Vatican to listen to Pope Francis give a brief little talk. I would have loved to attend a church service by the Pope, but he wasn't leading a service when we were there. Regardless, we actually got to see him, and fairly close at that! It only took us waiting hours in the hot sun with no shade and thousands of people next to you, but I thought it was totally worth it. It's not every day that you get to see the leader of the Catholic church.
Up next was the Pantheon. The details and artwork on and in these buildings is just incredible!
After the Pantheon we made our way to the Trevi Fountain. After tossing a coin in the fountain we stopped for a little photo shoot. We were there at the wrong time of the day to get great pictures. Full on sun and a white monument aren't a good mix.
Close to the Trevi fountain was the Spanish Steps. We actually came out of the metro station at the top of the steps, and it was a beautiful view from up there! We made our way down the steps to see them from the bottom and check out the fountain at the foot of the steps.
The next day, we went back to the Vatican to see the Vatican Museums. There were so many statues, paintings, and tapestries, and everything in between. Even the ceilings were covered in artwork! We were able to go inside the Sistine Chapel to see the ceiling Michelangelo painted. Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures inside the chapel. We had plans to go inside St. Peter's Basilica, but the line was ridiculously long so we decided to skip it. Maybe next time we come we will have to check that out!
One of the coolest things about Rome (and most of Europe really), is that you hop on the metro and when you get outside at your stop, you are literally feet away from all of these historic monuments. I'll never forget coming out of the metro station by the Colosseum and saying, "I wonder how far away the Colosseum is", only to be staring it in the eye as we reached the top of the steps.
This was one of my favorite stops- you hear so much about the Colosseum and the fights that went on here, it was amazing to actually see it in person. It is huge, and while there aren't many of the original seats left, they told us that the entire stadium was lined with seats. The tunnels under the stadium were visible to see, and thinking about the gladiators forced to walk through those tunnels to their likely death gave me goosebumps.
Right next to the Colosseum was the Roman Forum. You really felt transported back to the Roman days walking through the Forum. The fact that this piece of history is right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the city amazes me.
Our last day in Italy we hopped on the most packed train I've ever been on (with no AC and little personal hygiene of fellow passengers), and made our way down to Pompeii to check out the ruins left after Mount Vesuvius erupted and covered the town in ash and pumice.
It was another scorching hot day, but we all thoroughly enjoyed walking around Pompeii and seeing what the archaeologists have uncovered. We saw amazing tile work on the floors, and I'm talking one inch or less pieces of tile, check out that tile floor with the dog! There were also so many painted walls. We found lots of walls with penises on them, marking the brothels in the town. Walking down the stone roads, you could see the tracks of wagon wheels that have been worn down into the stone. There were holes in the rocks on the side of the roads used to hitch up horses as people went to the market. We even found a mini "colosseum" on the outskirts of the town. We did see one of petrified bodies of someone caught in the town, but the majority of those bodies are in a museum in Naples.
And that wraps up our stint in Italy! While there's so many pictures of things we saw, what we didn't get pictures of includes eating real Italian pasta and pizza (which I regret to say just isn't as good as American pizza ha!), walking the streets and going in to many of the gorgeous churches on every street, a date night with just Eric, having a cappuccino and pastry in the corner store like the locals, and so much more. Stay tuned for our last stop of the trip, Paris, France!
