Rome Part 2

The Vatican- Day 2

The second day (Thanksgiving) was reserved for the Vatican, museums, and surrounding area. 

You can't walk past the Colosseum and not take pictures. Here is another view of the Arch of Constantine. 

I just love this place! 

My gorgeous kiddos did pretty well with pictures all week long. No bribing needed. 

Thankfully, both kids enjoy taking pictures of James and I. 

Just some random pictures while on our way to the Vatican. 

This is part of Palatine Hill and the ruins there. We will discuss more of this area tomorrow. 

I don't know why this amused me so much, but it did. He's directing traffic at a very busy unmarked intersection. Drivers do not pay attention to the lines on the road nor obey basic traffic rules. I suppose this time of day is necessary to have someone direct traffic to prevent accidents. 

And we are here. The Vatican! 

Its a gorgeous building, but like everything else in Rome, its under construction. 

The wall that separates The Vatican City from Rome. 

Wyatt gets his very own map of interesting things to see in the Vatican Museums.

A public water fountain inside Vatican City. 

I've never seen a hallway with so many heads! 

View of Rome from one of the windows in the Vatican City

On our walk from the museum back to the Vatican we saw this. Parking is nothing short of crazy here. I think this driver might be waiting a while to get out. 

Back in front of the Vatican I start taking more pictures. The kids really enjoyed this fountain. 

Did you know The Vatican City has their own police and Swiss Guards!

View from the Vatican

View towards the Vatican

We didn't go inside St. Peter's Basilica. By the time we were done with the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel we were all worn out. The plan was to go back the next day but we decided to save it for a future Rome trip. 

The Sistine Chapel was amazing. After a really long walk through the museums you finally get to the Sistine Chapel. Its worth the walk though. The paintings are beautiful and breathtaking. Pictures were not allowed sadly. Apparently Fuji Film once cleaned all of the Sistine Chapel in the late 1900's and therefore has copyrights to all paintings. 

Vatican Fun Facts

Did you know that the Vatican is its own State? It is not part of Rome nor of Italy. In 1929 the Lateran Treaty between Italy and the Holy See finally recognized its sovereignty. It is only 108 acres and is the smallest sovereign state. It has its own postal city, radio station, currency, passport, newspaper and railway station! And of course the Pope lives here. 

Did you know that Michalangelo originally painted The Last Judgment with the people totally exposed? But then many years later after much controversy another painter came in and added clothes to cover them up. 

Did you know that Fuji Film once cleaned all of the Sistine Chapel in the late 1900's and therefore has copyrights to all paintings. That's why we can't take pictures. 

Did you know that The Sistine Chapel also holds the famous chimney that releases black smoke to announce the pope has died and white smoke to announce a new pope has been selected. 

Monday Blog Hop Fun

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Covered in Grace Monday Meetup

Rome Part 1

Day 1- Colosseum

The Colosseum is located in piazza del Colosseo and is surrounded by beautiful Roman ruins. Our apartment was just a few blocks away. We could see the Colosseum from our front door. Its such an amazing view, especially after nightfall when the arches are lit up. 

Construction begun in AD 72 by Emperor Vespasian and completed in AD 80 by Titus. The Emperor ordered the Colosseum (known to Italians by Colosseo) to be built upon Nero's Palace to be disassociated with the tyrant. The Colosseum had 3 levels for public viewing. The highest level sat the poor and those without Roman citizenship, middle level was reserved for Roman citizens, while the lowest level houses the wealthiest of Rome. Gladiators and animal fights were at the center of attention in the Colosseum. 

When I think of what a Gladiator was back then I imagine tough fighters who were popular and well-liked. However, this is not the case. Roman Gladiators were usually slaves and prisoners. Most were male gladiators but occasionally there would be females as well. 

There are 80 arches in the Colosseum.  During inclement weather a canvas could be stretched across to protect the spectators. The Colosseum held 55,000 spectators, all of which could enter and find a seat within 20 minutes because of the many entry points. 

On the second floor of the Colosseum you will find a small museum filled with artifacts from the Roman time. I cannot remember who this is. 

I could never figure out what this is but it can easily be seen from inside the Colosseum. 

You can also see the Arch of Constantine, a 25 m high monument built in AD315 to mark the victory of Constantine over Maxuntius.

Here is a good view of the 'basement'. This housed animals, gladiators, probably doctors and prostitutes. The floor of the Colosseum eventually fell revealing what we see today. The original floor was covered in dirt so that blood could easily be soaked up. If there was too much blood between battles they simply threw more dirt down to dry it up. 

The kids were trying to see how strong they were! 

After the Colosseum we grabbed some groceries from a local grocery and relaxed a bit at the apartment before heading out for dinner. We wanted to try a recommended pizzeria but didn't realize it opened at 7 pm. It was 6 pm and an hour wait was just too long. We made the mistake of walking a few blocks towards the Colosseum and finding a place there. Mistake meaning it was SO expensive! The food was decent. James got a pizza and I got gnocchi (wasn't too impressed). Drinks were outrageous. They were 5 euro per small soda and 6 euro for apple juice for the kids! We were also charged 1.50 euro per 'seat'. The kids didn't eat (because they are just so damn picky) but our bill was still 58 euro. Just one tip for now: Don't eat close to the tourist attractions and if you see lots of Italians eating somewhere its probably a good place to go. I'll post later about things we thought were a good idea and those that just didn't work out for us. 

After that shocking bill we went home, relaxed, and slept well for our next day's adventure.