Rome, Italy

"For someone who has never seen Rome,
it is hard to believe how beautiful
life can be." -Anonymous

Rome is absolutely breathtaking, around every turn and every corner, something amazing and stunning appears. Thinking about the history of this city and how long these monuments, churches, arenas, statues & fountains have been around is equally amazing and stunning. We took the train to Rome on a Friday afternoon, enjoying a lovely ride with the kids who loved the train, and arriving with plenty of time to get settled in our new surroundings. Our Rome apartment was right off of the Campo de' Fiori, a lovely piazza filled with shops, restaurants, and vendors selling fresh everything! Our family was going to experience Rome like locals for the weekend. We met up with my parents who had spent the week in Rome (which helped us seem more like locals since they knew where they were going!), and enjoyed the Piazza Navona, Church of Sant'Angnese in Agone, & the Fountain of the Four Rivers, before heading to the Pantheon, all so beautiful...









The next morning Mike, Hannah & I headed to Vatican City for our tour of the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, and St. Peter's Square - with a stop at the Castel del Sant'Angelo before crossing the Tiber River for lunch in a small piazza. While breathtaking, it was very crowded and hot, and our Hannah did an excellent job for a four year old, with compliments from all of the others on our small private tour and especially from our tour guide Francesca, who said she was the best child she ever experienced in her eleven years! Rewarded with gelato, Hannah enjoyed her favorite treat as we shopped for Vatican treasures to bring home. Hard to really show the true beauty and scale of everything through pictures, but I tried to take a few when and where photos were allowed...












After meeting back up with Lukey and my parents, who spent the morning strolling through piazzas and watching Luke chase pigoens, our afternoon was spent walking to the Spanish Steps (very crowded and covered in scaffolding), Trevi Fountain (closed for renovations, no water to throw in a coin!), and the Colosseum, AMAZING. All followed by a delicious dinner, dancing in the piazza, and gelato & nutella filled crepes of course before turning in for the night. Isn't the view out our apartment window just gorgeous...












Sad to leave on Sunday, it was hard to say goodbye to our home in Rome, so we enjoyed our last cappuccinos & pastries at our favorite cafe, waved goodbye to the slightly scary statue in our piazza, enjoyed fresh squeezed pomegranate juice from the market and headed to Termini Station to catch our train. Arrivederci Roma!