Rome, Italy

Thursday of our cruise, we were in Rome, Italy.

We had a private tour set up so we met our drivers at the port and were on our way.

We started our day in Rome at the Colosseum.  The workers were on strike and so it wasn't open yet so we couldn't go in as planned.  We were all really bummed.  We came all the way to Rome and couldn't go inside the Colosseum?  But then our guide told us they would be done striking that afternoon and would open and we could go in.  Yay!  We snapped a few pictures and then continued on our way.





One thing I was immediately surprised by when we got to Rome was the amount of trees and greenery. For some reason I didn't think there would be many trees at all.  I took some pictures from our van as we drove around.







We stopped in this square and were instructed to look in this door, but you could not tell anyone what you saw until everyone had looked.



Here is what we saw:



Here's a closer look:



Absolutely amazing!  You can see the dome of St. Peter's Basilica, which is in the Vatican. This is a private residence and apparently they don't mind people looking through their property.  This was so neat and I am so glad we got to see it!

Some more pictures as we were driving.  The great thing about having a private tour is that they drove us everywhere and dropped us off right where we needed to be.  That was a godsend on this unbearably hot day in Rome!











Next we went to see the Roman Forum.  We just viewed it from an overlook.  You can go inside, but we didn't have enough time since we were only in Rome for one day.













After we left the Roman Forum we walked through the city a little to meet up with our guides.













We passed these street performers that were incredible.  We stood there looking at them for a long time and they never moved.  I don't know how they did this.  We saw some amazing street performers in New Orleans a few years ago, but these guys were amazing!



Next we went to see the Pantheon.





A fountain outside the Pantheon.







Inside the Pantheon.







I don't know why I didn't take more pictures inside, but I will say that at this part of the day, I started feeling pretty bad.  The heat was really getting to me and although I was taking antibiotics, I still was not feeling much better.

The cobblestone streets throughout France and Italy were hard to walk on, but were one of my favorite parts of our trip.  They are so charming!



We drove by this in the car and I believe it is the police station of Rome.  I'm not 100% sure though.



Next we made our way to the Trevi Fountain.



It was SO CROWDED!  Oh my gosh, it was crazy.   People everywhere.  You were practically walking shoulder to shoulder.  You can see it in this picture:



But I was still able to get some great pictures.













We didn't have long to eat lunch so we stopped in a little cafe next to the Trevi Fountain for a slice of pizza and some gelato.





I had coconut gelato that was amazing!  So creamy and good!



The Colosseum was now open so we headed there next.





There were tons of people here too, of course.  Thankfully, I had purchased us tickets online before our trip so we got to skip the incredibly long line to buy tickets and got straight in.









When we got inside, this is the first thing I saw.  Incredible!







After taking a few pictures at ground level, we walked upstairs.  That was really hard for me and I completely lost my breath.  My chest was so tight and I couldn't get a deep breath.  But after standing still for a few minutes I started feeling better.











We walked around and took some pictures from different vantage points.















This is from the top looking out from where we walked in.





We were separated from our group at this point, so we walked back down to find everyone.  We found Steve and Nancy and Steve took a picture of us together.





As we were walking out, I saw this.  Whoop!



We took a few more pictures outside while walking back to meet our guides.











I know I was smiling in the above pictures, but inside I was losing it!  Once we got into the car, I still couldn't get a good breath and had a little breakdown.  I just felt awful, but knew I had to keep going.  We were in Rome and I didn't know if I would ever be back here.

We were driving by the Spanish steps, but didn't have time to get out.  I passed my camera to Stephen, who was sitting in front, to get some pictures.

Do you see all the tourists?  Each "landmark" we went to was like this.  So incredibly packed.









Next we went to the Vatican.  We had a private guide for the Vatican, which was wonderful.  She gave us each headphones and we could hear her talking as we walked.  She didn't stop talking for our entire 2 1/2 hour tour.

I regretfully can't remember her name, but here is a picture of her:





This pineapple statue has some great importance, but honestly I don't remember what it is.  Quite frankly, I felt so awful at this point and didn't know how I was going to make it through the entire Vatican.  I kept telling myself not to think about the next few hours and just take it 5 minutes at a time.  I kept telling myself, "just keep walking, you are going to be ok".







Then we made our way into the Vatican museum.  This place is huge!  I should have taken a lot more pictures, but just didn't.  Here are some statues:







The ceilings were incredible!



This hallway was full of maps of Italy.







We made it out to this little courtyard.  They had fountains out here where you could refill your water bottles.  In fact, there were fountains all over Rome with drinking water.



We went inside the Sistine Chapel next.  You are not allowed to take pictures inside and you can't even talk.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  Although I would love to have a picture now to show you, while we were there I wasn't even upset about not being able to take pictures because it was just so beautiful and we just stood there and admired everything.  The paintings seem to come to life.   They looked 3D, but were not.  They are serious and not talking either.  Our guide was whispering so we could hear her in our headphones and she was asked to leave.

We made it out to this square where the Pope delivers his speeches.



Next we went to St. Peter's Basilica.











This is a statue carved by Michelangelo of Mary holding Jesus.





Saint Peter's tomb is under the alter.  Only the Pope is allowed to give a sermon from this specific alter.



A mummified Pope.  There were a few of these in St. Peter's Basilica.



When we made our way outside, we saw the Swiss guards of the Vatican.





Rome was a really hard day.  I am glad I got a chance to see everything we did but it was a rough day! It was hard to see everything we did in one day and that with the combination of the heat and me not feeling good made it very hard.  We were so busy this entire trip and got very little rest or sleep and I think this is the day it all caught up with me.

I am still so grateful to have been able to see everything we got to see.  Rome was much different than I thought it would be, yet still amazing!