The Allisons

Rome

If these pictures don't make you want to go to Rome I don't know what will. How beautiful is this picture of the Colosseum at sunset (minus the white mini-van)? If other people would just get out of my way... :)
Our first day in Rome, we didn't get a whole lot done because our hotel was so far out of the city . We missed the first shuttle from our hotel and we barely got on the second. They dropped us off right down the street from the Colosseum. So we walked to the nearest Metro stop (Colosseo) and rode the Metro to our first, and by this time (as we were starving), our most desired destination Hard Rock Cafe:Rome. These pictures at sunset were right after dinner. The one on the left is the Roman Forum. We snapped some pictures and went back to our drop off spot to take the shuttle back to the hotel. We missed the shuttle that we had reserved, so we went to a cafe to kill time in hopes there would be room on the next shuttle. The cafe was across from this beautiful building (right). We thought that it was very old, but as it turns out, it was built in the 1800s. The later shuttle was fully booked, so we, along with a nice couple from Minnesota who were also left stranded, took a cab to the hotel. It actually ended up being cheaper and more convenient. We agreed to meet the next morning to get an early start on the day. Craig and Kara remained our "cab buddies" for the rest of the trip.
We had a full day planned. First stop: Vatican City. It was cloudy when we woke up. Optimistically, we both decided that it would burn off to give us a beautiful day. We were wrong. It had begun to sprinkle by the time we got to the Vatican. The fountain (top, left) in in St. Peter's Square. We walked around for a while and then made our way to the most important part of our Vatican experience the Sistine Chapel. We waited in line, in the rain for about 45 min to an hour. During which time we witnessed an car/motorcycle accident from beginning to end. We went through part of the Vatican museum and then to the Chapel. The 2 pictures on the right are of some of the hallways leading to the Chapel.
True to all the pictures, it was amazing. This too was different than I expected. I guess I thought that the only paintings were on the ceiling. Obviously that's not true. Although there was more than I thought, the individual "scenes" were smaller than I expected. It was still incredible. Of course you weren't allowed to take pictures, but Jennifer did manage to take a picture of what must be an extremely accurate replica being that she would never break the rules. The picture above, left is inside the Vatican. The picture to the right is the Holy Door, used only during holy years.
Our next stop was the Spanish Steps. I include the picture only to illustrate how disappointing it was. There was scaffolding in front of the church. I understand the need for restoration, but does it really have to be on our vacation?
Then we went to to Triton's Fountain (left) on our way to the Trevi Fountain (right). Trevi Fountain was really cool. It was huge and very beautiful.
We tried to go to Loyola. A church with renowned artwork on the ceiling, but it was closed for riposo (kind of like siesta for 2-3 hours). So we just skipped it and walked 1/2 a block to the Pantheon. Ancient Rome's best preserved building was a welcome shelter from the ever increasing downpour of rain. This picture (right) is the inside of the dome. It's called the oculus. It's completely open so it was actually raining inside the Pantheon.
After the Pantheon we walked about another 1/2 block to Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, one of Rome's only gothic churches. We were in desperate need of a break so we went back to our favorite cafe (from the night before) and had a coffee.
We then started our tour of the ancient city center. Our first stop was the Mamertine prison where Paul and Peter are supposed to have been imprisoned. The picture on the right is inside the small cell.
We continued through the ruins. The picture with the Arch is kind of the "entrance" to the Ancient City. The picture of the building with the columns is the Temple of Jupiter I think and then of course there's the Colosseum. We got there about 20 minutes after it closed so we just walked around the outside and peeked though the bars at the inside.
Too bad it was raining, but as you can see, we didn't let it dampen our spirits. It made for several funny memories (haggling for a 2 euro umbrella, and Jennifer squishing all the way across Rome among others).