Rome, Italy

We stayed at this hotel outside of Rome for 2 nights. Johnny and Dave booked the hotel one night at an internet cafe and it was so cheap that Kim and I were VERY apprehensive....When we arrived at this hotel we were still unsure but it ended up being really nice. I recommend it to anyone who is going to Rome.



Our rooms were in these outside buildings.

We spent our first day in Rome going to the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, Pantheon, Spanish Steps, and Trevie Fountain.

They removed the floor so that you could see all the tunnels under the floor. They would have gladiators or prisoners fight to the death. They would have bears, tigers, and other animals come up from the tunnels and attack the people fighting. They never knew what would appear and where they would come from. I can't imagine how people loved watching this and could sit and cheer for people to be killed. I think it is horrible.



When we would lose Johnny, this is usually what he was doing....meeting and visiting with people. :)



It was neat to see the remains of such an ancient powerful city. It was so interesting to learn more about how things were ran and done. A lot of it was so corrupt and sad. We learned a lot.


Trying to look tough...



I think this is the government building or something. All I know is that is was sooo beautiful!


The Pantheon

Dave at the Spanish steps at night.

Eating!

Trevie Fountain. Hopefully this means we will make it back to Rome one day.



The next day we spent in Vatican City. Vatican City is the smallest state in the world. It has its own zip code and post office. The mail going out of their post office gets places faster than going through a post office in Rome.
This is a picture Kim took from the top of Saint Peter's Basilica (I opted out of this... I was done with stairs at his point in the trip.)

Inside Saint Peter's Basilica. It was very ornate and huge. I couldn't believe how big it is.

We then went to the Vatican museum and the Sistine Chapel.
This is the map room. The walls were full of maps. They used to have meetings in the Sistine Chapel and then come out and look at the maps. The ceilings throughout were all amazing.

We went with a tour guide through the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. It was so interesting to learn about some of the paintings and statues. Michealagelo was such an interesting person. It took him 4 years to paint the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel. He didn't really want to paint it but the Pope at the time made him. He said if he didn't he would kill him. His back fused together from painting the ceiling for so long. He did a lot of things in the paintings to spite the pope.

Judgment day painting in the Sistine Chapel


Some of the paintings on the ceiling are the creation, Adam and Eve, Noah and the flood.


Dave at the Spanish steps

Dave trying to look and talk like an Italian. (The pantheon is in the background)

Rome was very interesting. I wish we came here at the first of the trip so we weren't so tired but we still loved it. It was a lot more touristy and crowded than some of the other places we went. We got lucky our whole trip and didn't have to wait in many lines.