Our dream vacation and wonderful adventures finally had to come to an end. Today was our last full day before departing for the airport tomorrow morning at 8:30am for our long journey home. We spent mid-morning leisurely wandering the streets, in part targeting our final lunch destination. We ended up at another good small trattoria just before some rain showers arrived. Yesterday was the first hard rain we've had the entire trip (but fortunately not while we...

We headed up to tour St. Peter's Basilica. There was a mass going on in the square and the Pope was in attendance which was pretty cool but that also meant that here was no way we were getting in let alone even near the place. Instead, we made our way to Castle Sant Angelo. It was very cool to tour this ancient castle that has served as the home of Emperors, Popes, and even as a prison. We wandered freely up and down and within the castle. Michelle and Malinda e...

(To Julie and Sarita) You were right. By the time we got to the Coliseum in Rome, we were at each other's throats :-).

We went to the Vatican today and made our way around long lines people-- mostly people hawking their individual goods. Most of them told us it would take three hours to get to the Vatican and we needed to buy their special tickets and have their special tours. Ultimately, we waited only about 20 minutes to get into the Vatican where we walked through at our own pace. The artwork and details were just beautiful. The Vatican museum is HUGE! The amount of Christ-ce...

Today we headed to the Trastevere. Crossing the Tiber opens another, rougher, side of Rome. Seedier is unkind as it really does have its own charm. We really enjoyed the streets and churches of the authentic Roman neighborhood. The area of old Rome was settled by immigrants to Rome (spelled 'conquered') whom were not pure enough to truly be 'Romans.' When finished in the Travstevere, we headed north past the Vatican as we also began a search for certain specific...