Rome

Our first stop on our vacation was two nights and three days in Rome. (Two half days and one full, so we really only had two full days in Rome.)  My mom, dad and sister volunteered to take Gianna with them to my Aunt and Uncle's house while Hubs and I stayed and toured the city.  Although we missed Gianna like crazy it was wonderful to have a few days just the two of us.  Especially since due to living far away from anyone we know we rarely get time for us to be just us.  Looking back at what we accomplished to see and do we realized that we made the right decision agreeing to this arrangement because there was no way we could have done toting her along.  (If you do decide to go to Rome with a child give yourself at least five days in the city.)

We had a list of things that we wanted/had to see and things we would like to see.  Our hotel was right in the center of the Historic District so we were able to walk to everything.  The two sites that were the furthest distance were the Colosseum and The Vatican.  The first day we went to the following:

Trevi Fountain

Pantheon

Inside the Pantheon.

Spanish steps.

Fountain in front of the Spanish Steps.

After this we were exhausted.  We have been traveling for 24 hours and were up for a good 36+.  We went to a small restaurant and had a huge salad, wine, and a pizza for dinner.  Then we went straight to our hotel and into our bed.  Then following day we got up early and spent the morning here:

Colosseum

Inside the Colosseum.

Arch of Constantine

Palentine Hill

It absolutely beautiful here.  We both learned the history of the city and the Roman empire.  We were surprised to find out that for many hundreds of years the Colosseum and Pantheon were used as "trash dumps" when the rulers of Rome were building other sites and building, such as St. Peter's. Most of the marble and other expensive stones and metals were dismantled from these historic sites to help build other sites.  In fact that is why the north side of the Colosseum is better preserved than the south side.  

Afterward Hubs and I walked to the Trastevere area to have an amazing lunch and then were off to St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican. We went on a guided tour and we so glad that we did.  Our tour guide had a vast knowledge of the history or Rome, the history of the Catholic faith, and art.  The Vatican is packed with people and you are not allowed to take pictures some of the rooms so I am going to post just a few that I took.  (Sistine Chapel is one of those rooms where no camera are allowed. Boooo!)

St. Peter's Basilica

After playing tourists at The Vatican, Hubs and I went back to our hotel and got ready for dinner.

Enjoying our last night alone.

On the roof top of our hotel enjoy the nighttime view of Rome. 

And drinking some wine.

The next morning we had a quick breakfast, packed all of our crap up, and walked around the city with no agenda.  Time was quickly up and we had to go to the bus station and catch our bus so we could meet up with Gianna and the rest of our family.  

Our breakfast view.

An interesting statue shop in the streets of Rome.

Goodbye Rome!!  Hello Abruzzi!!!

That's all for now.  Posting pics on Blogger is a real PITA!  There is a shit ton more to come and I plan on posting the rest real soon.