The Oliphants: September 23rd

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

September 23rd - Rome

Off to see the Colosseum & Roman Forum this morning! The Colosseum was truly amazing! Chris did the "peanuts, popcorn, cold beer" spiel (you can hear it on Facebook!), which was funny. We built a sandwich at Antica Salumeriaat and ate on the steps of the Pantheon Fountain. We changed clothes before going to the Vatican. We were a few minutes late for our tour, and in the wrong place, but caught up eventually in the museum. We enjoyed the tour, as our guide showed various pictures explaining and leading up to the Sistene Chapel. The Chapel itself was breathtaking, and we enjoyed looking up at the paintings of the last judgment (it took 6 years for Michaelangelo to paint!), the ceiling (4 years to paint) and the paintings showing creation, the life of Christ and the life of Moses. Back into the museums where our guide showed us numerous treasures donated from kings, presidents and leaders all over the world. When t tour ended, we went on to see the Egyptian art & artifacts and then on to St. Peter's, which was breathtakingly huge! We arrived just before 5 p.m. so saw the 5 o'clock mass, which was interesting (beautiful choir!). Then using Rick's book, we toured the church, took lots of cool pics, and went back to our hotel in the rain. After showers, we went back out and got lost as we tried to walk to Trastavere (but we got there!) and had dinner at a fabulous little place called Trattoria di Lucca. It was small, delicious, ma & pa owned, and had only 2 small rooms to sit in. 4 out of 5 tables in our room were filled with people from the US, and all of us were there by Rick Steve's suggestion! Then onto Campode' Fiori, where we began our night walk through the romantic fountains of Rome...Piazza Navona, Four Rivers Fountain, the Pantheon, gelato at giolitti, to Piazza Colonna, Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. It was a fun, and very romantic walk!