Rome

What I have to say about Rome is that you will never comprehend Rome without experiencing it.  I think you could probably see pictures of the Statue of Liberty and have a pretty good understanding of what it's like, but you can never comprehend all of Rome without walking the streets.  Every corner there is another church, with marble statues, with 100 rock arches, with great detail and symbolism (I'm guessing on the symbolism, I didn't know what I was seeing).  And it's all SO OLD.  And of course, there is ancient Rome as well.  And that is practically older than time.  It's just really hard to comprehend.  But SO cool to see.

Our original flight from SLC left at 7:00 am on Saturday.  We of course had our layover in Detroit, and then our flight to Rome was 9.5 hours I think, we showed up Sunday morning.  Walker and Isaac did great on the flight, Isaac didn't sleep much, but he had fun watching movies.  Walker slept through both of the flights, so he enjoyed them.  We stayed in the Marriott Boscolo hotel, it was amazing.  It was very close to the Spanish steps, so that was the first thing we saw.  We did a little triangle the first day seeing the Spanish steps, the Pantheon, and the Trevi fountain, and somehow it seems like we did it again later with Kate.  We did take a nap, since we missed Saturday night entirely.  

The second day we walked the entire city of Rome in one day.  For those who know what this means, we started at our hotel, went to Spanish steps, Trevi fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Campo di Fiori, Vatican City, Trastevre, the wedding cake, Circus Maximus, the Forum, the Colluseum, up to the church where the Moses statue is, and back to our hotel.  About 10 miles.  Isaac was a champ.  He was doing better than we were.  He didn't complain at all, and he was soaking up knowledge and experience the whole time.  We never regretted taking him.  Walker of course was loving every second.  We noticed that the only time he cried in all of Rome was in the Sistine Chapel.  That is one of the only places that you are supposed to be quiet.  We got out of there pretty quickly!  

At the top of the Spanish steps

This is one to click on.  This is the Pantheon.  It was one of my favorite places.  It has a lovely square that we ate dinner in.  You can see Isaac in his blue sweatshirt with his arms wrapped around the pillar.  That pillar is solid rock.  Now you tell me how they cut those solid rock pillars that are 100 feet tall, and so wide?  And where did the rock come from?  And then how did they transport them?  And then how did they stand them up straight like that without a crane?  That is kind of just how Rome is.  A lot of awe at how they could even do that.  

I think this is one of the fountains in the Piazza Navona

Campo di Fiori.   A big, Italian farmers market.  I wanted to bring it home with me....the whole market.

Walking the streets of Rome.  I wore flip flops and Dave wore crocs.  BAD DECISION.  Every road is made of rock, you need supportive sneakers in this city.

Just one of those random place on some random corner.  Amazing.

I'm thinking that this is inside the Pantheon 

The last thing we saw that day was the Moses statue.  We made it there 5 minutes before it closed.  Of course, Dave was teaching us the whole way.  He emphasized the importance of Moses, and told Isaac stories while we stood here.  I married well. 

Just a different angle of the picture above it. 

This is Isaac's favorite picture.  We ate gelato about 5 times a day, NO JOKE.  Every time we started to get tired or dragging, Dave stopped and bought us a gelato.  My favorite flavor was Nutella, followed by Tiramasu.  YUM!  We just handed them our Monopoly money (Euros).  I think we were led through the cities by sugar highs, but it was worth every lick.  Again, I LOVED Dave for keeping me well fed.  Ahhhh, everything about this trip was so wonderful. 

I keep waiting for my kids to be sick of holding Walker, but they never are.  They love him so much.  Isaac begged to hold Walker all the time.   

Blackmail 

We LOVED the Colosseum.   To see such an amazing structure built in ancient times, STILL STANDING, and then to think about all the crazy things they did inside there.  The floor is gone, so the underground is exposed.  You can see where they kept the prisoners and the animals.  So cool.  Just remarkable.

This is one of the great stories of our trip.  Dave had a list of places he wanted to see, but this one was very high on the list.  Right after the wedding cake (the parliament building) you should round the corner and see the Mamertime prison.  This was the only prison at the time.  So they say that it is where Peter and Paul were kept.  We rounded the corner from the wedding cake and couldn't find it.  Dave is asking people and nobody knows what he is talking about.  Isaac and I sat down for probably 20 minutes while Dave tried to figure out where it was.  We were about to give up, and so we walked away, but I could tell Dave was still bothered by it.  We stopped here and were looking at these ruins from the old forum (ancient rome) and Dave said he prayed.  Out of the blue, he looks up and sees what I could not see.  Now, Dave doesn't have very good vision.  So it was quite remarkable that he could even see this.  But he looked across here and saw the word "Mamertime" on that gray building across the way.  The one behind the green car.  I really felt like it was an answer to his prayer, he wanted so desperately to visit this sacred building, and God led us to it.  It was so amazing.  They cut stairs into the cell, at the time there was only a hole that they dropped the prisoners into.  So you actually climb down into the cell, and you can see how the light came through the hole so that Paul could write his letters.  It was one of our favorite parts of our trip to Rome.

Walker learned how to eat on this trip.  He of course loved gelato, but enjoyed eating tomatoes, pizza,  and anything else we had.  He yells if he doesn't get to try what we're eating.

Isaac on a bus 

Bocca della Verita which means the mouth of truth.  You put your hand in and it will bite it off if you tell a lie.  

The "wedding cake" in the background

We took one bus in Rome.  We waited for SO long for this stupid bus, public transportation is not that great in Rome.   

St Peter's Basillica at the Vatican.  Look at all the different colors of stone.  It's quite amazing.  Very beautiful.  I enjoyed the grandeur and beauty of this building, but I didn't like the Sistine Chapel as much.  It was very small, and painted on every inch, very dark in lighting and in color.  It was very different in contrast to our temples which are white and full of light.   Isaac really was hoping to give a Book of Mormon to the Pope, but we just couldn't find an opportunity to do so.  ;)

Approaching Vatican City 

They sell fruit cups on the street all over and Isaac loved them.  We have made lots of fruit salad cups since we came home, I didn't realize my kids like it so much.

This castle is right by Vatican city, but it was closed. 

A beautiful Roman bridge

Walker loved everything about this trip.  Not only did he get to be carried around everywhere we went, but he got to sleep in our bed.  Dream come true for him.

Make a wish as you throw your coin over your shoulder into the Trevi fountain

Lunch at the Pantheon square 

lunch at Pantheon 

This was the only Anguria gelato I ever saw, but it was really good, and I didn't even know at the time that Anguria is watermelon.  Was happy to spend some time with Kate in Rome!

Neptune?  Isaac learned a bit about the Gods, so he tried to identify who they are.

At the bottom of the Spanish steps 

A fountain at the bottom of the Spanish steps.  All of the fountains in Rome come from natural springs.  So they are clean water and can be drank from.  I couldn't bring myself to do it, but people were filling their water bottles in the fountains.  Someone told us that the closer the fountain was to a church, the cleaner it was?  I don't know how credible that was.

 Circus Maximus, where they held the Olympics

and below, the Camp di Fiori, one giant Italian farmers market.  I wanted to take the entire market home with me.