Vatican City & St. Peter's-Katie almost doesn't make it!

Our final morning in Rome we woke up early to be the first people into the Pantheon, which was right around the corner from where we stayed.  Usually it had a long line which we were able to avoid!

Here is the famous dome and the hole in the roof, there was water on the floor from the rain in the night!

Tomb of Queen Margherita whom the pizza that my kids adore is named after!

This is the tomb of Victor Emmanuel II the story, the guy to right is an  Honor Guard to the Royal Tombs of the Pantheon, when you read the New York Times article it makes me think we were lucky to find a guard there!

Honor Guard to the Tombs of the Pantheon-New York Times  The guard had a podium in front of him where you could sign your name to show support for the former royal families of Italy.

Kelly by the column out front, look at the size of it!

A hotel right across from it, look at the beautiful dome replica on the front entrance!

We checked out and headed for the Vatican but had to go by bus to drop off our bags until later in the day.  Katie had not been complaining that her tummy didn't feel right, and so a bus ride on a crowded bus proved to be too much.  We got off a stop early and she fainted, luckily Greg caught her!  She was right outside of a shop and the kind shopkeeper ran and got her some packets of sugar to eat.  He also offered for her to come lay in his fancy shop but we were afraid she might get sick in there so we stayed on a bench.   After a bit she was ready to move and we got heading to the Vatican where we had a timed entrance ticket for all of us waiting.

Luckily once we got in we found a courtyard with benches where Katie could rest while the rest of us fought our way through the tour groups to explore the massive museum.

 I can't do all of the priceless artifacts justice, so I won't even try, I hardly took any pictures I was so busy trying to see it all!  When you go through museums with Charlie its kind of like walking with a ticking time bomb in your pocket..you know its going to go at some point so you have to hurry and hope you make it to the end before it goes off!

We detoured to see the mummies...then got yelled at by the guards for not following the floor plan!

 We finally made it to the Sistine Chapel, we weren't sure Charlie could do it! Katie figured out how to catch up to us and we were all able to stand and admire it together.

It was fun to hear about where Michelangelo put himself in the drawing of judgement day. 

These gorgeous wardrobes lined the hallways for quite awhile, they all had different paintings on the fronts. I have no idea what was stored in them or how old they were but I liked looking at them. 

Lion the witch & the wardrobe?

They had a whole soccer display of all the Pope's jerseys-very cool!

They also had his space suit!

This is how you head toward the museum exit..

Greg took this from the top!

 We walked around the block and then entered St. Peter's Square and the church.  It was really neat to see a place that you have seen on tv so many times before!

Great to see the real Pieta after seeing some other ones at previous stops!

They are standing in front of the holy door that only is opened every 25 years!  It was last opened in 2000.

On one side is the tomb of Pope John Paul II. I was touched to see how many people were praying there.

You could go up to the Swiss Guards and ask for a ticket for the Pope's Wednesday Mass, we were leaving that night but it would have been neat to see.  Charlie would't pose for a picture with the guards for me-the stinker!

Katie has almost survived the longest & worst day to be sick!

Walking back outside the walls we looked into an open window and could see the Swiss guard uniforms all lined up.

This was one of the driving gates into Vatican City.

Katie has finally made it and we are on the train towards a beach town called Cecina.  No sights to see other than the beach!

The kids LOVED the train travel, nothing to do but listen to music, watch some shows and see the beautiful countryside and snack.  Greg is delighted not to be driving and I am happy that there is no backseat for fighting!

Rome!

We rolled into Rome and hopped onto one of the big red bus tours to get our bearings.  Having done bus tours in other cities we thought the narration was a little lackluster as there were many points when they weren't saying anything on the audio...if you can't find things to talk about driving through Rome then where can you?  We learned more when we walked some of the same routes later with our guidebooks!

For instance, this is just a random house right near where we stayed...look at the beautiful statues!

We stayed downtown allowed us to see places during the days and the evenings.  Our weather was cold and rainy the first day but got better after that.

The fountains were spectacular, here is one of the first ones we stumbled upon, it was in Piazza Navona and its called the Fountain of 4 Rivers.

We found great restaurants and a cool old church to attend an evening mass in English for Palm Sunday.  They had a vibrant priest and an amazing choir!

This elephant statue was right near our place in front of a church.

 When it was dark we walked to the Trevi Fountain, I knew of it from reading about it, but was totally unprepared for its sheer size & beauty!  Apparently it was totally renovated in the past few years with donations from Fendi as a gesture of love to Rome.  We appreciated their efforts!

So big you can't even capture it all!

Sisters!

 

Tossing in a coin on our first visit...

We walked to the Colosseum for our tour.  We had audioguides but they weren't as good as our buddy Rick Steves so we listened to his audio tour instead.

The cross is where the Emperor's seat would have been.  

Part of the floor is open so you can see all the structures underneath.  There was even an underground tour but we didn't opt for that with our spider hating Katie!

Hadrian's Arch sits right outside, great views from up high in the Colosseum.

We were a little jaded having seen other Roman ruins in France and having recently visited Athens, the Colosseum didn't wow us as much as we were expecting!

Feeling special to have his own street!

It's not everywhere you can claim 2800 years of spectacle on your site! (that is Circus Maximus in the background)

 Our next stop was the Bocca della Verità (Mouth of Truth).   We were a little concerned for Kelly so I was sure to take a photo of her hand before she stuck it in, just in case that was the last time we ever saw it!

Luckily she got her hand back so she is ready for a summer of pushups!

After you see the mouth of truth, you enter the Santa Maria of Cosmedin church where they had the skull of St. Valentine.  There he is in case you want to share your thoughts regarding Valentines Day!

They also had a crypt you could go down in.

Next we made our way to the Monument to Victor Emmanuel, it looked very impressive from the bus and we wanted to go up the big steps.  We climbed the giant steps, which I later learned are called the Stairway to Heaven as they lead to the church called Basilica di Santa Maria in Aracoeli (the Altar of Heaven).   It was a gorgeous church and what impressed me most was its gorgeous ceiling and chandeliers everywhere!

Chandeliers to the left, right & all around the altar!

A better one of the altar so you can see all the chandeliers!

After we left the church we were at the top of a hill and we enjoyed the view and the drinking fountain called the nose.  Charlie would get it to squirt, he almost soaked a family walking by.

We headed around the bend and walked up the Victor Emmanuel Monument and enjoyed the views from the the front balcony.  

The tomb of the unknown soldier, we happened to be there to watch the guard change and after watching them march the girl next to me said, "Bellisimo"

We headed back towards our place and the girls split off to do some shopping.  Charlie and I headed for the Gladiator Museum.  It was a stand alone little place full of replica gladiator attire.  He loved seeing all the outfits and the weapons, of course. 

That night we headed for the Spanish Steps, which I later learned were restored by another Italian company, the jeweler Bulgari, paid for the restoration.  Again, it was money well spent, they were beautiful especially the night we saw them.

 Best big sister...he dropped the cookie on top of his gelato climbing the steps and after the tears started coming Katie walked him back and asked the gelato guy for a replacement cookie!

Instagram girls...they were taking pictures forever...some lady gave them a rose to help out the shots!

The cool church at the top.

A view from the top, classic little brother!

This house was at the top of the steps, I loved the lighting on it.

A view from the bottom looking up, the flowers were beautiful and the lights.

The cool fountain at the bottom.

We also had to make one final visit to the Trevi fountain, I read to Charlie that the first coin you throw in it is for luck, the second for love, the third means wedding bells.  He was determined that he had to throw in a second coin, we aren't sure who the lucky lady is but he wanted to be sure on the love!

Long days but good ones!