June 28, 2014
Day 12 of our European Adventure

James here - Two words... Today Rome! After a 1&1/2 hour bus trip we made it. We saw quite a few sites along the way but we were soon standing in front of the grand Roman Coliseum. It was really crowded, in fact I think I could have walked across the square on the heads of the people. We were warned repeatedly about the pickpockets, then we started our journey up to the coliseum. Due to the crowd we were given a radio with earphones tuned to the guide's frequency this way he could talk with the group as we walked. We had just gone a few yards when he hollered at two girls to get away from us. He recognized them as pickpockets they scurried away and we were on our way again. The structure was massive. We were told it could hold around 70,000 people. After the coliseum we had a bite of lunch and headed to the Vatican, the Sistine chapel and Peters square and chapel. They were getting ready for a special presentation from the Pope tomorrow so there was activity everywhere. It was awesome to experience but I was glad when we walked back on the boat.
Cindy here! Rome was incredible! I had waited so long to see the coliseum that it was hard to believe I was actually there! It was very impressive! Our lunch at a local restaurant was one of the best lunches we have had on our excursions! We even had tiramisu for dessert! Yummy! Then we went to the Vatican City museums! It took a short while to get our tickets but then we got in & it was awesome! The tapestries & art work in there was unbelievable! Our guide was very good & told us many interesting facts about the things we were seeing' he even told us where the pope's apartment was & we got a quick glimpse of him on the patio of his apartment! Then we went to the Sistine chapel! Wow is all I can say! The paintings in there were so detailed & the colors so incredible! When we came out of the Sistine chapel we went to St. Peter's basilica which they were preparing for a special mass to celebrate a holiday here in Italy! The basilica was truly beautiful! Then we came out to St. Peter's square! We even saw where the pope stands to give his message to the people on the square! Then we had a little time to shop so we bought a couple of postcards to send home & mailed them from the Vatican City! We enjoyed a quiet bus ride back to the boat & then went to dinner with our Aussie friends & then to a ventriloquist show! James was chosen (along with 2 others)to go on stage near the end of the show so I taped that part of the show! It was really funny!