Rome, Italy, May 2013

After we finished exploring Herculaneum, we caught a train in Naples and headed to Rome.  We went from the beautiful seaside village of Positano on the Amalfi Coast, to the big city!  There were lots of street performers all over Rome.  There were also street merchants and the thing I remember them wanting us to buy the most were these little helicopters things that you fling into the air with a rubber band and they come twirling down to the ground.  They were everywhere and they lit up at night so parents there with little kids of course had to buy them.  There were also these little rubber gooey balls that you throw to the ground and they splat flat and as they retake their shape into a ball, they make this funny sound.  We weren't really into those sorts of things, so we just tried to avoid eye contact.  Red roses were also another big seller.  They'd come right up and get in your face and ask you to buy one. We passed on those as well.  We loved the musicians and often put a euro or two in their hats or bowls.

So many fountains and sculptures!  It was incredible and so hard to fathom how they were carved.

We loved eating outside in street cafe's as often as the weather would permit.  Should we get pizza or pasta, pizza or pasta???  Did you know that they don't make spaghetti and meatballs in the parts of Italy that we were in??  They make spaghetti and meat sauce but not meatballs.

Our first night in Rome, we took Rick Steve's audio night walk. Here we are at the Pantheon.

Making wishes at Trevi Fountain

The Spanish Steps

Walking to our "Walks of Italy, Colosseum Underground Tour 

Before we got to the Colosseum, our tour guide, David, took us to see the Forum and Palatine Hill.  It was truly fascinating! 

I took this picture for my boys, "The House of Griffith"

David is an opera singer and sang "O Solo Mio" atop the Palatine Hill.

The Colosseum

We got to go down below the ground level and see where the gladiators and the animals were kept before being brought up on elevators for the games.  It was dark, hot and very smelly back in those days. 

Long Day, we were tired, but I think we were actually looking at something wonderful on the ceiling. After the tour, we caught the Metro to the Borghese Gardens where we went to the Borghese Gallery. Lots and lots of paintings and sculptures.

Our next morning in Rome, we got up early and walked to Vatican City.  We had another very interesting Italian tour guide, Camilla.  We saw the Sistene Chapel before the crowds were let in, the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica and Square.  The Sistene Chapel was everything we had imagined, absolutely breathtaking.  I don't think Camilla stopped talking for the whole four hours we were with her.  She had so much knowledge.  We saw so many sculptures, paintings, mosaics, and tapestries---the mosaics and tapestries looked like paintings--incredible!

The Vatican Guards--Michaelangelo designed their uniforms...

St. Peter's Square

The Pope's apartment is on the top floor.  Every Wednesday, he comes to the second window from the right at a certain time to wave at the people in the square.

The next few pictures are just pretty shots of the back streets of Rome.  After we left the Vatican, we took a taxi to a section of the city called Trastevere.  Very quaint and picturesque.

Spaghetti, Caprese salad, and Bruchette in a sidewalk cafe.

One of  mine and Nancy's favorite thing was seeing all the laundry hanging out to dry.

That's a University of Colorado Buffalo's sticker on that motorcycle!

Our apartment at 15 Via Dei Greci

 On Tuesday morning, May 21, we said goodbye to our lovely Spagna Apartment (Spanish Steps).  We were picked up by a private driver and taken to the Rome airport where we picked up a rental car and headed up to Tuscany.  The Italian highways weren't nearly as bad as we thought they would be and we got around just fine.  Dale and Mike were excellent drivers and we were always able to find a pretty good place to park.