When in Rome....

We were supposed to have a full 2 days here in Rome

But since we got late to Cinque Terre,

We stayed there until about noon and 

got into Rome around dinner time.

We got a good nights rest

Because we knew we had a BIG day ahead of us.

{that’s an understatement}

And took advantage of our hotel

It was gigantic.

Biggest Marriot I have ever seen.

{like whole hotel size wise ... click here}

They even upgraded our already nice room

Check it out:

 {this tub was massive- it was amazing}

 {bathroom}

 {walk in closet}

 {bedroom}

 {family room}

 {family room, view of entry and desk- behind the desk wall is our guest bathroom}

 {guest bathroom}

 {spencer doing pull ups on our balcony}

{our greeting, along with a plate of fruit}

We woke up at 6:30 am

Ate breakfast and went straight into town

We started out at Vatican City.

It is its own little city.

It is not part of Rome,

And its considered the “smallest state in the world”

Inside Vatican City there is:

 {St. Peter’s Basilica}

 {The Vatican Museum- to the left}

 {camera timer shot}

{And the Pope’s home}

It was really cool because we beat most of the crowds.

From there we bought a ticket for an “on and off” bus.

Basically it goes around to all the sights

And you can get off whenever you want

And get back on when you want

{a bus came around every 15 minutes}

Next we wanted to rush over to the Colosseum

{to try to beat the crowds}

unfortunately that didn’t happen….

We wanted to take a tour

So we waited in line.

It was chaos! Haha.

There were thousands of people.

I felt like I was in China.

Where they just cram people into things.

You are like body to body with everyone around you.

There is no “bubble” or personal space

It was hot and sweaty

I was glad when we finally got our tickets.

The Colosseum was really cool!

I imagined it a little different than what it really was

But I was still amazed.

I cant believe people built this massive, solid building without machinery.

Blows my mind.

We took our time once we were in

We had to take small breaks because it is soooo hot here.

The reason the Colosseum is the way it is now

{shape and such}

is because of time of course but also a huge fire.

No one really knows how it used to look exactly.

Kinda crazy

After that we walked around the Forum area and the Arch next to it

But didn’t spend too much time there.

Next we toured a couple of churches/cathedrals

We wanted to find the “Holy Steps”

{where Christ walked up to be judged by Caesar}

No one could really tell us exactly where it was

So we wandered to a couple churches,

Hoping that one of them would be it.

So we may or may not have seem them! Haha.

 {what we thought was the Holy Steps}

 {once inside, realized it wasnt it}

Next we went to the Victor Emmanuel Monument

It was white, and huge, and very flaunting

There was a huge sculpture of a man on a horse

And this man kept saying with pride

“This is the biggest horse in the world”

Next we walked up to the Trevi Fountain

We looked at it for a while,

It was very crowded so we just sat on the curb

{in the shade}

and people watched for a while.

There are some very interesting people.

And a lot of Americans! Wow!

Next we went to the Pantheon

{this was the center on the ceiling, inside}

We sat by the fountain and took some pictures

Then toured the inside

I didn’t realize it was a church.

It was just a big circle,

{not huge in size}

and there was some creepy play rehearsing.

With girls painted like they were dead

And it black cloaks. It was odd.

After there we wandered around a famous square

We got some gelato and walked around for a little bit

So people will just do random things and put a money cup in front of them

{or they wander around and put a cup in front of your face}

{or tell you to sign a petition against drugs and

at the end it says “how much you will pay”}

Well there was a man that had painted himself metallic bronze color

He really did look like a cowboy statue.

They just do that ALL day.

I think it’s so weird.

They can’t make that much money.

We did find a tripod for our flip for 2 Euro though.

It had been about 8-9 hours by now.

We were exhausted.

Walking in the blazing heat all day takes it out of you.

We headed back to the hotel at this point

Took a nice swim!!!

And then got to bed before our early morning the next morning!

2 more randoms:

 

♥ ♥ ♥