Sun! Pizza! Jesus! History! Gelato! Monks! Pasta! Nuns! Wine! Oh MY!!! Sam and I adventured into Italy, finally, after 2.5 years of living in England and we were not disappointed. The weather was amazing, the food phenomenal and the city of Rome was unbelievable. This is one of our favorite trips thus far, most definitely in the top three. It was an early spring break trip for me, during a week of standardized testing in March, I was able to take off work and Sam got some leave approved so off we went! We left for Rome on a Monday morning. Utilizing the fast track ques in Standsted airport we had a very easy time traveling. Upon landing in Rome we had no trouble getting a bus and finding our b&b. The room we stayed in was beautiful (minus being up six flights of stairs with a scary two person elevator) it was clean, air conditioned and spacious right off the Piazza Novona. A fantastic location. The breakfast part of our hotel came from the cafe next door and it didn't take long for us to fall in love with espressos, cappuccinos, pastry's and fresh squeezed juice. Every morning, seriously, we never got tired of it! We were settled in Rome by 1300 and started the day with eating delicious pizzas. Then we explored the Piazza Novona, the Pantheon, Saint Louis Church and we had coffee in the coolest coffee shop ever. Did you know that true Italians take their coffee standing up? In fact they will charge you for a table if you sit. Anyway, this shop was cool because you ordered/ paid for the coffee and then took it to the bar and they made it for you. We visited the Trevi Fountain, but it was under restoration, so we couldn't see it in all of its glory, but we got to walk across it. We also went to the Capuchin Crypt which is an underground crypt where everything was made out of the bones of Monks. We are talking chandeliers and full bodies set up to make crosses and other designs. It was a bit (a lot) creepy, unfortunately no pictures were allowed so if you find yourself in Rome you will have to check it out for yourself, or you can view my super cool magnet to get an idea of this crypt. We each had pasta for dinner with the house wine and of course Gelato for dessert.
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| Flying over the French Alps |
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| Praise the Lord our plane didn't crash |
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| Sorry mum for bringing that up... |
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| Finally getting food, in ROME |
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| Standard, Sam's eyes are closed. The pizza is legit though |
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| The Piazza Novona |
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| The Piazza Novona |
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| The Piazza Novona |
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| The Pantheon |
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| The Pantheon |
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| The Pantheon |
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| Trevi Fountain |
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| Trevi Fountain |
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| Trevi Fountain |
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| Trevi Fountain |
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| Trevi Fountain |
The next day we went into Vatican City, which counts as another country so that is always a bonus. We took a four hour walking tour of the Vatican Museum and Saint Peters Basilica. The Vatican Museum was really neat, there were so many things plated in real gold. The Sistine Chapel was also amazing. I can't believe Michael Angelo painted all of the scenes from Genesis on the ceiling. He must have had some sore shoulders. After we finished our tour we climbed to the top of Saint Peters Basilica and had some amazing views of the city. After being inside of the Basilica, which is unbelievable, any other church we see just kind of seems like, "Eh we've seen better!" We had another delicious lunch in Vatican City, the best pasta, yum! And enjoyed walking around the city. We ended our day with a Ghost Tour, which was more of a history tour, and pizza for dinner! We did see them filming the new James Bond movie.
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| Beautiful city of Rome on top of the Basilica |
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| Our tour of the Vatican Museum |
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| The dome at St. Peters Basilica |
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| Our lunch in Vatican City, yummy Risotto |
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| Courtyard of the museum |
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| The keys represent a Papal resident. From St. Peter getting the keys to the church from Jesus and becoming the first Pope |
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| Hercules at the Vatican Museum |
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| St. Peter's Basilica |
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| A Pope? |
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| St. Peters Square in Vatican City |
Our next four hour tour was of the Colosseum, Underground and Roman Forum. The Colosseum was super cool. We enjoyed seeing the underground part where the chariots were kept before the fights. The Roman Forum was amazing. Very impressive. I enjoyed seeing all of Ancient Rome. I know we had another amazing lunch because all of the food in Rome is delicious. In the evening we did a wine tasting. It was actually an American who gave the tasting, he was raised in an Italian family and followed a girl back to Italy. Anyway, the run a successful wine store. We did the tasting with a couple from London. It was a lot of fun and we learned a lot about wine, like how to tell how much alcohol is in it and how to properly hold the wine glass.
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| Saint Angelo Bridge |
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| Castle St. Angelo |
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| Under the Colosseum |
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| View from the Colosseum |
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| The Roman Forum |
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| Roman Forum |
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| The chains of St Peter from when he was in prison |
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| Part of the Manger |
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| More of the Manger |
After two full days of tours we took an "easy day". Where we toured the Galleria Borghese which was an art gallery full of lots of sculptures. We aren't big art people but it was a neat muesuem. It had a good audio tour and great paintings as well. Most of my pictures were on Sam's phone though because my phone had died. After the museum we walked the streets of Rome and enjoyed the sunshine. It was a beautiful day. Of course we ate well and drank wine too.
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| We took lots of pictures of door knockers because when Kevin went to Rome he had a lot of door knockers in his pictures, these are for you Kevin :) |
Our final day in Rome was full of seeing many different churches. Including Saint John Lateran Basilica, also know as the Pope's church in Rome. This is where the Pope officially takes his seat and it is a beautiful place. We prayed in one of the chapels there and received confession on the national day of confession. The Pope encouraged all churches to stay open 24 hours on that day for confessions. It was cool to see and experience. We also went and prayed on the steps that Jesus carried his cross up. There were even blood stains. Words can not describe how moving it was. Of course there aren't any photographs, but you had to go up them on your knees. We also went into a church that had the relics of the Cross, pieces of the Cross that our savior died on. It also had the thorns, a few thorns from the Crown of Thorns, We saw pieces of the pillar from where Jesus was whipped. Again, such a moving experience. I didn't realize how many relics were moved to Rome, but I am thankful for the opportunity to experience and see them for myself. The New Testament makes it very clear that "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see," Hebrews 11:1, so my faith in God and his son Jesus has always been there but actually seeing this just gave me a deeper connection and time to reflect again on what all Christ did for us during the Easter season. Again, I do not have pictures of these things, just the memories to share of spending time being still and knowing that HE is God.
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| Our breakfast was the same every morning |
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| Yummo |
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| So much Gelato |
We truly had a great time in Rome. We are glad that we spent 5 days there, which is the longest time we have spent in one city at one time, but with all of our tours it was perfect. So I will leave you with a fun Holbrook travel story because they always exist. One night when we came back to our hotel we saw an Asian doctor with his wife and daughter trying to check in. However, Europe is not like America where you can check in anytime you want, this place was only manned until 8pm, it was now 10:30pm. So Sam tried to help the guy, we called the emergency number and every number we could find. We tried for about twenty minutes. Finally, Sam who had already been behind the desk opened some drawers and found a room key. Sam found the name on the books and decided they were legit and gave them a room key. I made sure to text some friends in England to be prepared to bail us out of Italian prison! But ultimately, it was a good deed because they had no place to go! Thanks for reading!! Oh and the "Fountain of Love," in the movie, When in Rome, is not a real thing but a built set :)
