Friday - Arrived!

Vacation time! Joe flew a long way and Becky took a 30 minute taxi from her meeting in Frascati to meet up at Visconti Palace Hotel for the start of our Roman Holiday. So exciting!!! P.S. We've learned that the lanes on the streets are just suggestions in the mind of Roman drivers!	Visconti Palace Hotel The hotel was a great location. It was less than a 30 minute walk to nearly everywhere we wanted to see (except Venice of course).

Saturday - Palazzo di Giustizia, Piazza Navona, Pantheon, Monumento a Vittorio Emmanuelle, Trevi Fountain, Piazza di Spagna, and Piazza del Popolo

	Friday night we went down to the hotel bar for a glass of Prosecco and the bartender excitedly made us an itinerary of what we needed to see in Rome. We took the recommendation and were ready to get out and see Rome first thing Saturday morning! We had our map in hand and walked and walked enjoying the sites (and the great people watching). We saw everything Fabio recommended, plus a few sites that weren't even on our itinerary. We didn't take any pictures of Trevi Fountain as it was drained and under renovation - that'll just have to be a stop on our next trip. After a full morning of site seeing, we got some sandwhiches, some rest, and then went out in the evening for a very nice dinner near Piazza del Popolo.
The first place we stopped was the Palazzo di Giustizia, the Palace of Justice. We didn't go inside, but it was a very beautiful building to look at. A nice guy offered to take our picture, so here it is, the two of us embarking on our first journey through Rome.	Next we went to Piazza Navona. It was a very large and interesting square. There were three fountains in the square (the social sense of the word square, it wasn't actually the shape of a square, it was a rectangle). This fountain is called the Four Rivers fountain. It was designed by Bernini and had four statues at the base which were around a Roman coopy of an egyptian obelisk that rose high into the sky. Egyptian obelisks are found all over the city as part of Christian monuments, showing the reign of Christianity over the previously pagan religions in the Roman empire.
Next up was the Pantheon! We both found it really neat. The hole in the top of the dome is the only light source inside the Pantheon. They say if you come at noon on a sunny day you can see a column of light in the center of the Pantheon - the most glorious column in Rome. We weren't there at noon but I'd be up for timing our visit to see that the next time we are in Rome.	The Pantheon is very neat mathematically. If you continued the dome down, forming a complete sphere, it would sit perfectly inside the cube made by the walls of the Pantheon - in geometric terms you would say that the sphere formed by the dome is inscribed in the cube made by the walls. Beautiful.
Another neat thing about the contruction of the Pantheon is that the columns were each made in one piece in Egypt and then brought all the way to Rome. Imagine that! Normally, columns are made in pieces that are then transported to the location, stacked on top of each other, and then concrete is smoothed onto the outside making it look as one but these were actually poured to form one complete massive column! This was one of my favorite things I (Becky) learned - Thanks, Rick Steves, for including that in your audio tour!	The Pantheon has been used for many different purposes over its history - it has been used as a church since it was given to Pope Boniface VIII in 608 A.D. The reason it has been so well kept over all these years is that it has consistently been used since its construction.
Having a great day! We got a little lost and ended up on the steps of Monumento a Vittorio Emmanuelle. It was a very decorated building. We went inside and walked around some but didn't spend much time as it was pretty much a collection of flags and weapons (as far as we saw).	Here is the view we had from the steps of Monumento a Vittorio Emmanuelle. This was one of the many roundabouts in Rome and this one was particularly pretty to look at.
Isn't this a great shoe store display?!?!!!	And another one!
Somehow ended up with roses and our picture getting taken by one of the guys selling selfie sticks at Piazza di Spagna. Always nice to have a picture together!	Being lovey on the Spanish Steps.
Piazza del Popolo (People's Square). The inscription reads: "For a happy and auspicious entrance."	This was Piazza del Popolo when we walked past it that evening on our way to dinner. It was packed with people for some kind of political event. There's a guy giving a speech on the big stage in the distance.

Sunday - First trip to the Vatican for an audience with the Pope & then we roamed Rome

St. Peter's Basilica	St. Peter's Basilica
The square was full of people by noon for the audience with the Pope. There was a huge crowd from the Phillipines as the Pope had just visited there. The Pope speaks from the window of his study which is in the building next door to St. Peter's Basilica. It was in Italian and Spanish so we didn't understand many of the words but we were blessed all the same.	Blue skies. What a great way to spend a Sunday!!! After the audience with the Pope we went in search of a restaurant recommended by the bartender and managed to get very lost. We wandered around Rome and got to see some less touristy areas. It was fun to roam and we ended up having some pizza and a pastry from a very busy little basement bakery. After pizza, we had some ice cream from a place called Old Bridge next to the Vatican and then took the subway back towards our hotel.

Monday - The Colosseum & the Roman Forum

The Colosseum	The Colosseum
A friend asked me to bring back a pebble from Rome - I tried to get this one from the road outside the Colosseum but just wasn't strong enough.	Another happy day.
Inside the Colosseum.	Had some sandwiches and a little adult beverage for lunch... when in Rome!
Roman Forum Behind Joe on the right is the Arch of Constantine that is just outside the Colosseum.	It was so neat to walk around the Roman Forum. It is just crazy to think that people were living their daily lives together in this spot two thousand years ago and now we can spend the day roaming through the same streets! We saw the place where Caesar was murdered among many other buildings and temples in this area.
Roman Forum Latin Roman Inscription	Roman Forum Santi Luca e Martina Church & the Arch of Septimius Severus
This is the bridge crossing over the Tiber River near our hotel. As we were heading back at the end of the day, we couldn't pass up this photo op with St. Peter's Basilica in the background.

Tuesday - Castel Sant'Angelo & Second Trip to the Vatican to visit St. Peter's Basilica

Joe spotted the original smart car. Smart cars are so small they can part sideways - so cute.	We started our day off at Castel Sat-Angelo which was only a few minutes from our hotel and was on our walk to the Vatican. We both liked this statue of a statue being chiselled.
Castel Sant'Angelo You can see a picture of the castle and read the story of Castel Sant'Angelo here. It's really interesting.	Castel Sant'Angelo There have been a number of different angel sculptures atop the castle. Here is one of the previous ones.
Castel Sant'Angelo The angel with his flaming sword.	Castel Sant'Angelo Catapult.
Castel Sant'Angelo There were some great views from the upper levels of the castle. Here is looking out over the Tiber River.	Castel Sant'Angelo St. Peter's Basilica is just down the street from the castle.
Castel Sant'Angelo Joe and St. Peter's Basilica	Best smile in all of Rome!
View from the top of Castel Sant'Angelo.	View from the top of Castel Sant'Angelo.
After visiting Castel Sant'Angelo, we walked a little further down the street right into another country - the Vatican! While waiting in line to enter St. Peter's Basilica, we enjoyed the view of the square for the second time. The areas that line the square on both sides are three columns deep, as you can see in this picture.	The square was designed such that from certain points just to the sides of the obelisk in the center of the square, you can look around and all of the sets of columns line up perfectly - as you look around the square, you would think there is just the one row of columns because the other two rows are perfectly aligned behind the front one! SO NEAT!
Bronze door at the entrance of St. Peter's Basilica opened only on Jubilee years.	Bernini's golden altar piece in St. Peter's Basilica.
St. Peter's Basilica	What a great day!

Wednesday - Day trip to Venice!! The Grand Canal, St. Mark's Square & Basilica, and the Doge's Palace

After a 3.5 hour ride on one of Europe's fast trains, we arrived in Venice. You walk out of the train station and instead of a street, there is the Grand Canal! Joe purchased us day passes for the Vaporetto (the water bus) so we could get around Venice. You can see the "bus" stops on the sign next to Becky.	We took a 25 minute trip on the Vaporetto. They say that the colors of the buildings have faded significantly - it must have been quite the site when all the frescos on the mansions were at their prie.
This place was beautiful!	Just wouldn't be Venice without all the gondolas.
Rialto Bridge	Enjoying our ride on the Vaporetto.
More beauty on our ride to the end of the line - St. Mark's Square.	St. Mark's Square was massive and beautiful. Lined with shops on three sides and then the focal point was St. Mark's Basilica. One of the authentic Venician experiences is to sit on St. Mark's Square and enjoy Spritzes (Prosecco mixed with Campari, bitter, or Amperol, sweet) and Cicchetti (small snacks), so that is just what we did and it was GREAT! It would be neat to come back here in the spring and do this again in the evening with the sqaure lit up and dueling orchestras playing (each cafe has their own orchestra though none were out on our trip because it was freezing out).
We don't have pictures of the indside, but St. Mark's Basilica was possibly one of the most interesting places I have ever been in my life. I was fascinated by the gold mosaics that completely covered the church. We even went into the museum on the second floor and walked out onto the roof for an even better view of the square!	Also in St. Mark's Square was this clock tower.
	While in Venice, we also visited the Doge's Palace (Duke's Palace) which was next door to St. Mark's Basilica. We went through the Doge's apartments, the Institutional Chambers (political offices), the armory, and the prison (which was creepy!). We walked across the Bridge of Sighs (gladly not for the reason others in the past have walked across it...). It was a very interesting place with LOTS of art. We now know what a doge's hat looks like (here's one) so we can pick one out in pictures (necessary life skill).
This clock tower is reported to have the world's FIRST digital clock. Above the circular clock, you can see a statue and on each side of it there are rectangles. In those, the time in this picture reads 3:15 (the hour is in roman numerals). Every five minutes, the wheel turns and the clock changes. We waited and watched it change at one point. I don't know why but I (Becky) was flat out fascinated by this.

Thursday - Last trip to the Vatican: Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel

Vatican Museums St. Jerome, Madonna and Bambino, & St. Francis	Vatican Museums St. Jerome
Vatican Museums You can't see this one well, but it is of St. Gregory leading Romans to St. Peter's Basilica during the plague. On their pilgramage, the Angel appeared with a flaming sword above Castel Sant'Angelo and the plague ended. Having just visited Castel Sant'Angelo a couple days before, we were excited to come across this painting.	Vatican Museums Thanks Maddy for my super warm hat!
Vatican Museums Contemporary art in the Vatican Museums. 1990 piece.	Vatican Museums St. Helena's sarcophagus.
	Once we made it through most of the Vatican Museums, we made our way into the Sistine Chapel and found a spot to sit down and take it all in. There was so much to look at! One of the things that was interesting was that you could see the differences between the paintings on one side of the chapel versus the other - Michelangelo took a look at the first half of his work and then decided that it needed to be even more majestic so he continued on painting figures larger and more dramatic. You can do a virtual tour of the Sistie chapel at this website: 3D Virtual Tour of the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica.
Vatican Museums Beautiful piece of the shepherd carrying home the lost sheep.

Friday - Headed home

We had a 24 hour journey home - Rome to Munich to D.C. to Austin then a rental car and a drive to San Antonio. So happy to see our happy, sleeping babies in bed and smiling parents when we got home. Our bags arrived Sunday night.	We can't thank our wonderful family enough! Thank you so much for taking care of our babies, cats, and home and making it possible for us to travel the world. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!