Saturday morning, we left our beach and island life behind in Terracina and headed to the bustling city of Rome. We drove to the hotel to drop off our bags before heading to the airport to pick up our family friends, Keith and Barb, who are traveling with us on the rest of our European adventure. Between navigating to the hotel and back to the airport, Jamie got a good dose of driving in Rome - which is an adventure in itself.
That afternoon, once everyone was settled in, we went on a little walk to explore the city a little bit. We walked by lots of squares and fountains (which are very abundant in the city) and ended up at Trevi fountain - the most famous fountain in Rome. The legend about said fountain is if you throw a coin in over your shoulder and wish to return to Rome, you will. There must be some truth to it, because I made my wish in 2008 and now I'm back!

Sunday morning, we woke up and set out to explore the city by foot. We started at the Colesseum, which is so big and magnificent. Standing in the arena, you can almost hear the cheers of the ancient crowd as they watched a gladiator duel. From there, we went to the Roman ruins, which take up a huge part of the city. The archeological area is still being excavated and they keep finding more of the ancient city. It is amazing to walk through and take a journey back in time. After a lunch stop, we visited the shopping districts by the Trevi fountain, and then continued onto the Pantheon. The Pantheon is amazing from the outside and in - especially the hole in the ceiling. The most amazing part was that this ancient temple was just sitting in a modern city square. The narrow city streets were all built around it. We ended the day at the piazza novano where we sat by the fountain and watched some street artists. We made our way back to the hotel and had a quiet night.

Monday was our last day in Rome. We took the metro to the Vatican to see St Peters Basilica and the Vatican museum. We started at St Peters Basilica - which is such a beautiful and grand church. Every square inch is decorated with marble, gold or statues and the ceilings are at least 30 ft high. Afterwards we made our way enthusiastically to the Vatican museum - unfortunately we were stopped in our tracks by a 2 hour line. We waited in the monstrous line and enventually made our way through the crowded art museum and admired the statues and sculptures. The end on the museum is the Sisteen chapel - with the famous ceiling painted by Michelangelo. I had been there before in 2008, but the scale and detail of the ceiling was still mystifying. Afterwards, we stopped for lunch and then took the metro back to the hotel.

Overall, we had a great stay in Rome! I had been before in 2008 and again on my own last week, but it was fun to come with Mom and Jamie and show them this amazing city!