Sorry – we hit save on the wrong post – this is the one we meant to send today 🙂

Hello from Rome!

We kicked off our time in this ancient city with a visit to the Vatican. We did a lot of advance research to find out the best way to visit and decided on a pre-scheduled tour booked directly through the Vatican. We were glad to have a reservation as the line was wrapped around the building by 9 am when we arrived!

Our guide was great, and we got to see the Vatican Museum, St. Peter’s Bascilica, St. Peter’s Square, and the Sistine Chapel. Although the tour was almost 4 hours, we got to see so much and our guide was so good that the time flew by. We were both very surprised at how busy the Vatican was! Our guide said that it would be hard to even find him, and he wasn’t joking! It was jam-packed in all the major areas so we actually had ear pieces to be able to hear our guide as we moved through as we would have never been able it stay together or hear him without it!

Seeing Michelangelo’s work in person was incredible! We both were struck by the contrast between Michelangelo’s pieces and the paintings completed in the Vatican just 10 years prior to his commission.

St Peter’s Basilica was also incredible! While it is one of the largest basilicas in the world, it doesn’t feel much larger than other basilicas. This is because statues were made 4x normal human sizing, and letters were amplified even more. This skews your perspective and makes it seem smaller than it actually is. It was such a neat experience to visit this holy site!

Balcony where the Pope addresses crowds

Next up, we hiked across town to the ancient sites of Rome – the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, and the Pantheon. It was again 99 degrees so we definitely worked up a sweat! Before arriving, we stopped quickly for some pastries (which negated the benefit of our walk I’m sure!). We had found this pastry shop on a top rated list, and it was delicious! We enjoyed petit fours and profiteroles.

We had also booked a tour of the Colosseum and were again glad to have a reservation as it saved us a very, very long line. The tour allowed us to go the ground level, underground area, and top level which are not open if you have a general admission ticket. We really enjoyed it! If you’re headed to Rome, we definitely recommend booking in advance!

Our visit to the ancient Roman ruins was capped off with visits to Palatine Hill and the Pantheon. Palatine Hill is the center hill of Rome’s 7 hills and contains many ancient Roman ruins, including the Roman Forum. The Pantheon, which was originally built as a temple to gods and is now part of the Catholic Church, is one of the best preserved Roman ruins. It is absolutely amazing to look at ruins over 2,000 years old!

We finished off our time in Rome with a walk past Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps at night before grabbing gelato for dessert. This was a great end to our time in Rome!

Ciao for now!