Roma 2010

Ok, I don't know how to really blog this, there are too many pictures and details to put it all here, but here are a few of the highlights.
Marco and I flew into Rome, Italy and there was no rest for the weary. After more than 15 hours of travelling (w/o being able to sleep on the plane) we hit the ground running! We landed at 7:30 a.m. and after leaving our bags at the hotel headed right to the Vatican (so you'll know why we look SO tired, we were).
St. Peter's Basilica is absolutely monstrous in size!!
Holy cow! I mean, forget the fact that it is world's most famous church, and that we have all seen it in the news over the decades for various Catholic occasions; it is just gigantic.
You walk in and as you look up and around you have to try to catch your breath. I have no nice pictures of the interior. I mean it is dark in there and no amount of flash from any sort of camera I would every own would have thrown enough light on the subject to make a good picture. Wow! Marco put it well into perspective when he mentioned that you could fit, like, four of our temples inside this humongous structure. Yea, it's big.
My favorite part about it was being able to see the famous Pieta sculpture, inspiring! It is safe behind glass ever since some crazy tried to take a hammer to it, but it was great to see just the same. Sorry, the picture doesn't do it justice.
Also in Vatican City is the Museo Vaticani which would have been a great place to spend a whole day if you had the time and if you loved art and if you hadn't been travelling for the past 15 hours! (approaching the great chapel)
Marco and I walked through and enjoyed it all quickly, but we were really interested in the Sistine Chapel and it's great paintings. It was a bit of a maze to get there, but once inside, WOW! Sorry, pictures aren't allowed in there and there were Vatican Gaurds all around to reinforce that, but you all know what it looks like. The ceiling was gorgeous! I love Michaelangelo's use of blues and reds as he tells the story of the bible from creation to Noah to Jonah and so much more. (after we soaked up all of Michaelangel's ceiling glory)
Between the museums of the Vatican and the Basilica we had passed several hours and we were ready for some Italian fare!!! Marco still cries when he sees pictures of the Italian food...if only we could have brought THAT back with us!! Next stop, pizza! They do it so well there!
Even in Marco's extreme exhaustion he could really enjoy the good food. (Thank you Janell for the travel book. Fodor's led us to this local joint which proved to be as reliable a recommendation as all the hotels, sights and restaurants that the book led us to. In fact, that travel book was dubbed 'The bible' by journeys' end.)
With the afternoon before us we headed across town by metro to the ruins of ancient Rome.

First stop, il Coloseo!!
As you come up from the metro stop this huge and ancient structure slaps you in the face in the nicest kind of way. It was SO invigorating.
Marco was all geared up to take on any Gladiators he might find there, as you can tell.
Then the Foro Romano, and the Palatine and Capitoline Hills on either side with ancient temple upon ancient triumphant arch upon ancient senate buildings. (Marco can't resist 'striking a pose', he felt right at home among the 'greats' of Rome)
The names of Marcus Aerelius and Constantine all come to life here and there is WAY to much history to get into on this already lengthy blog!
Very cool though!
OK, I can OBVIOUSLY not do this in any sort of brief manner. Sorry. It was just too dang fun!!
After all that ancient stuff we returned to our hotel to freshen up (we desperately needed it after all that travelling followed by all of that sight-seeing) before making our way to the Spanish Steps where we enjoyed the fountain lit up at night, the night-life and another KILLER meal 'al fresco'! They can make a salad like nobody and the pasta is SO rich!
We were pretty tired by the time we were all fed but we walked our way home past some other famous fountains and then CRASHED as soon as we found our beds. I'll get to the 2nd half of rome another day...and then on to Tuscany!