Roma

On Monday Megan and I flew into Rome and met up with our father. We took the train to our hotel and dropped off our stuff and then went out to dinner. Immediately after that we were off to the Trevi Fountain to throw our coins in.

Here we are mid-toss:

We were all pretty excited to be in Italy.

After the fountain we were of to the Pantheon, more because the world's best gelato shop is located nearby it than for historical reasons.

Here we are at Della Palma gelato shop. On that cone is chocolate coconut, chocolate fondente, and chocolate pistacio. Delicious. We went there every day we were in Rome.

Then we were off for a quick peek at the colosseum, which was quite epic.

The next day we were off to the Palatine hill and Roman Forum. Epic (basically the only word to describe all of Rome).

Megan found a friend.

An awesome view from the hill:


In the Roman Forum:


After the Forum we grabbed paninis and then went to the Colosseum, which was of course even more awesome than it appeared in Mary-Kate and Ashley's "When in Rome." Surprising, I know.


In following along with the plot of WHen in Rome, we of course went to the Spanish Steps, and paused midway up commenting on how odd it was that we were in Rome, on Spanish steps.

In the Piazza Navona:

On Wednesday we went to the Vatican, and I was pleasantly surprised to find the Laocoon sculpture there, which I had studied in my Art History.

Also, Raphael's School of Athens was there, which I had also studied and even written a few papers on.

The Sistine Chapel was of course outsanding, but you are not allowed to take pictures of it. But I was nonetheless thrilled to finally see it.

Here we are in front of St. Peter's just after the Pope was out.

The line to go inside St. Peters was super long so we made our way back to the Pantheon so that we could see the inside. It really is lit only by the hole in the ceiling. Cool.


We of course made a quick stop at Della Palma for some gelato before going back to St. Peters, where we saw Michelangelo's Pieta, which is one of the most outstanding sculptures I have ever seen.


We climbed to the top of the dome, which I was obviously excited about. It had an amazing view.



Then we sat our front of the basilica so that my father could rest his feet after the climb up to the dome.

For some reason Megan and I were intent on taking a picture of just our eyes. We finally succeeded.

Thursday was probably my favorite day of the whole trip. We took the metro to a bus station and then a bus to Tivoli, where we saw Villa d' Este, which was an old Cardinal's house with amazing gardens. More importantly though, it is also the place where Lizzie and Paolo go on their little romantic evening in The Lizzie Mcguire Movie.


It had lots of amazing fountains, which were beyond beautiful. (You may recognize this one from the movie, the run behind it)

There was this fantastic line of fountains with funny faces shooting the water out their mouths. Awesome.

This fountain was interesting. I'm thinking of installing one just like it in my yard.



That afternoon we took the bus back to Rome and got some gelato before catching a train to Florence.