Welcome to the Eternal City...Rome

We have so many pictures taken of Rome that capture so many priceless memories that I can not put them all in one blog post. So this is Part One. We arrived in Rome on the train and I knew right away that this city was the biggest and baddest that we had yet to tackle. But my lack of direction and Matt's paranoia about taking buses made this city walkable. As far as the bad is concerned it was dirty and sketchy at best. However, the history and religion make this city a worth while destination. We spent 5 days in Rome. We visited all the secular sites (Colosseum, Pantheon, Forum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, etc.), had front row tickets to see the pope, visited the Sistine Chapel, took an Escavi tour, and suffered a gelato hangover. Everything, except the Colosseum, is prettier at night. So we would tour the museums and churches during the day and then walk the city at night.


St. Peter's Basilica (the Vatican) at night. It truly is spectacular.

The Piazza Navona has nothing on the Piazzas in Florence but was the prettiest in Rome. I loved the sketches.

The Pantheon is so very cool. Before we left for Italy we watched a Discovery show highlighting the history that added to my fascination with this once Roman building turned Catholic church with it's magnificent dome.

Somewhere behind my giant head is the Trevi fountain.

The pope from his papal audience addressing the crowd on All Saint's day. Every night we would walk by and see the light on and wonder what the pope was up to. Perhaps writing new Catholic doctrine, suduko, socializing with Foreign dignitaries, or watching Italian game shows?

Matt overlooking Rome.

The coloseum is pretty spectacular, even if it is like 9 miles from our apartment and we walked all the way there twice.

The Tiber river. This is significant to Matt and I because we converted to the Catholic faith later in life and that is known as "swimming the Tiber." After seeing it in person that is truly metaphorical.

Confusing as all get out! The ironic thing is that the Vatican Museum is on the left.