Friday, October 28, 2016- Rome Day 4- Final Day- Walking Tour

On our last day in Rome, we went sightseeing to the spots we hadn't seen yet. We also did some repeats since they were on the way.  First up was the Trevi Fountain. We wanted to see it in the daylight and we had to make our wishes. 

 

 

 

 

On our way to the Pantheon, we walked passed by this square. The building behind us in where the Prime Minister of Italy lives. 

 

 

We made it to the Pantheon!  

 

 

 

Did you know that this dome is 2000 years old and is the largest unsupported concrete dome in the world still today!  It really is incredible to think about all these old these buildings are and that they are still standing. 

 

 

After many dead ends and backtracking and frustration, we finally did find Hadrian's Temple. 

 

 

 

We continued our walking tour by going to Piazza Novona. 

 

 

We ate lunch right on the square with a view of the fountain. 

 

 

 

We took a small break in the afternoon, then went back out before dinner. We went back to the Spanish Steps. This time we started at the bottom of then and walked up then to go back and get ready for dinner. 

 

 

It was beautiful out today and everywhere we went there were hourds of people. 

 

We ate our last dinner at the Bernini Hotel at the 8th flour restaurant. There was a pretty,sweet view from our table. The outside had an outdoor balcony with some tables (it was too cold to sit and eat out there) but we were able to walk out there and take some pictures. 

 

That's St. Peter's dome in the background. 

 

 

 

Our dessert tonight was crazy good. Presentation was amazing. It was called the After 8 2.0 and was a fancy deconstructed After 8 dinner mint. 

 

 

At the end of the day, my step counter showed our 2nd highest day of steps/mileage. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday, October 27, 2016- Rome Day 3- Day Trip to Florence

 

Today was the day we took the high speed train to Florence. The trip was 1 1/2 hours, it certainly didn't feel like we were cruising along at 150 mph. 

 

 

With Florence being the birthplace of the Renaissance, there was a lot of art to see. While we didn't see a ton of it, we did hit the most famous. Starting with Michelangelo's David. 

 

 

 

It is such a beautiful statue. Hard to believe it spent many years outside in the Old Town Square, where now a copy stands. 

 

Our hex stop was the Duomo. 

 

 

It's hard to see in the picture, but this cathedral was built with white, green, and pink marble. It is stunning to see. The picture doesn't do it justice but if you zoom in on the photo, you can see the extravagant details. 

 

 

The interior was gorgeous as well,  

 

 

 

We learned during our Vatican tour that Michelangelo studied this dome's version of the Last Judgement prior ro painting his Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel. We definitely noticed has similar they were. 

 

Next it was time for lunch in the town square. 

It's in this square that the statue of David stood. A copy is there today. 

 

 

We should have taken a picture of our salad today. It was the highlight of the meal. It had pears, kiwi, big slices of Parmesan cheese, and greens with olive oil and balsamic vinegar for the dressing. It was yummy!  

 

Next we went to the old bridge. This was a crazy bridge lined with jewelry shops. 

 

 

 

 

Our last stop on our tour of Florence was the Basilica Santa Croce. 

 

(Ok, I just have to say, it was really windy and my hair looks terrible in these last two pictures.)

 

In this basilica are the tombs of several famous Italians:  Michelangelo, Galileo, Dante, Marconi, Machiavelli 

 

Galileo's Tomb

 

Michelangelo's Tomb

 Back in Rome, we had dinner followed by our first cannoli for dessert. It was the highlight of this meal. 

   

 

Wednesday, October 26,2016 Rome Day 2- Bus Tour

We had our day all planned. We would sleep in, have breakfast, and then get tickets for the hop on and off buses and go out to the coleseum, forum, and pantheon.  Then, we left breakfast and noticed that it was raining outside. Well, that wasn't in the plan. And the weather channel app said only a 5% chance until 7 pm. Clearly that forecast was wrong. What do you do?  Well, we went up to our room, got jackets and umbrellas, and proceeded with the plan.  But, once on the bus, the rain started coming down really hard. We decided the best thing to do would be to stay put on the bus. Ride the complete route, listen to the commentary, then hopefully the rain would stop later. 

 

We got our wish, and the rain stopped by 3:00, so off we went...back to the Coleseum and the Forum.  

 

 

 

After touring the Coleseum, we walked over to Palatine Hill and the Forum. This next picture is taken from Palatine Hill looking down at the Forum. 

 

 

 

We also took a picture looking off towards the city of Rome. 

 

 

We found this cute street with lots of little ristorantes. We went to another one tonight. It was basically across the street from the one we ate at last night. The highlight of our meal tonight was, again, the appetizer. 

 

 

For a rainy day, we saw a lot!  We were tired and ready to be back in our room reading and relaxing. We weren't back 15 or 20 minutes when we felt the whole room start moving. I felt like I was dizzy and looked to Mike asking, "What's going on?"  His response was "An earthquake."  Could it be?  We quickly googled it and saw in the news that 2 hours earlier an 5.5 earthquake had hit 110 miles northeast of Rome. Now we're convinced we felt a pretty strong aftershock. 

 

We're looking forward to tomorrow. It's supposed to be sunny again. We're planning on taking the train to Florence for the day! 

Tuesday, October 25, 2016- Rome Day 1- The Vatican

Big day today. Started it early with a small group tour of the Vatican. We had to get up early, but Mike promised me a nap in the afternoon. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went to the top of the dome after the tour. My family will be surprised to hear that I went up all those stairs in the narrow claustrophobic circular staircases. At times, my heart was pounding. When we got to the top and outside, I could barely go to the front cage and look out and down. Mike kindly reminded me that this was nothing compared to the Skyline Trail I did in Glacier National Park on my 50th birthday. 

 

 

 

Part way down there was an outdoor area where you could walk around, use the restroom, buy souvenirs, and there was a small snack bar. We took the next picture from that area. 

 

At the very top, we were standing outside at the base of the cupola. You can see the grey fencing if you look closely. 

 

 

 Swiss guards have been protecting the gates for centuries. 

 

 After my promised afternoon nap we went to see the Spanish Steps. 

 

 

 

We ended the day with a nice dinner at a cute little Italian place close to our hotel called La Botte. We tried the bruschetta appetizer, which was delicious.  The presentation wasn't bad either. 

 

 

Tomorrow will be another big day of sightseeing. I'm pretty sure we won't be breaking these daily mileage totals though. (I don't think I want to either.)