When in Rome......

So they say "When in Rome do as the Romans do", we tried to do this on the subways and local transit...however there was a transit strike! We ended up getting an all day ticket on a tacky tourist open top double decker bus. This is full of tourists sitting on top with their cameras flashing and maps in hand. But it did turn out to be a great way to see the city. I have heard that Rome had random ruins just scattered throughout the city....but until you see it, it's amazing to turn a corner and see massive aquaducts or VERY old buildings. We stopped at the Coloseum, I had no idea that this was built in 80A.D.!!! It was very strange walking around a building knowing it's that old, and learning all that took place there. In the first week it was open 2000 people were killed and 6000 animals. We also saw the Arch of Constantine, this was very cool to see. It represents Constantine who in 312 A.D. made Christianity legal in the Roman Empire, it sits right outside the Coloseum. It's ironic considering many Christians had been killed in the Coloseum because of their faith. Once we left the Coloseum we had to wait and wait and wait for our bus. With the transit strike the traffic was insane. From the top of the bus it was very interesting to watch seas of Vespas weaving in and out of traffic. We made our way to the Vatican.... over an hour on the bus.... normally 30 mins. The line up wasn't too bad, we were in within 15mins. We hurried our way through the Vatican museum to get to the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo's greatest work. It's beautiful! Our necks were soar just looking at it for a few minutes... I couldn't imagine four years of lying on your back to paint this. We had a tip from a book to go out the tour group exit to get into Saint Peter's basillica faster....so we joined a tour group and ducked out the door..... the funny part was how well we fit in with the Chinese tourist... tee hee... no one stopped us and we bypassed a line up that would have taken about an hour to get through. Gotta love good travel tips. The Basillica was amazing, it is two football fields long and one football field high at the dome. The statues and artwork were beautiful, about half way up the wall there is blue lettering which is every word that Jesus spoke to Peter. These words from the floor looked no bigger than your hand... when in fact they are 7 feet tall!!!! Some statues of babies that are a quarter of the way up the wall looked life size... they are the size of an average adult. It was alot to take in but amazing. We walked out of the basillica in to Saint Peter's square, this is where you see the balcony where the Pope pokes his head out of his appartment and waves...if you've ever seen that on tv that is where we were.
We then hopped back onto our bus and waited in traffic again, it wasn't as bad as before the strike only went till 5pm. Which was nice, apperently there were protests right by our hotel and all the streets were closed, we were tired and very hungry (forgot to eat lunch today). We had an excellent dinner and have booked train tickets to the nice tropical island Capri... YEAH!!!
It will be a perfect way to end our trip...... sitting on the beach and taking it easy in a clean hotel where the toilet should flush properly.... you don't want details!
This may be our last posting from Europe, I plan on sitting my butt on the beach and not moving tomorrow, UNLESS it's to jump into the Mediterranean Sea to cool off CAUSE IT IS HOT HERE!!!!!!! How cold and wet is it at home????????
We come back to Rome Sunday night and fly out early Monday morning for a day in London and get back in time for Turkey dinner!!!! I am so looking forward to mashed potatoes! YUM!!!!!
See you all soon and hope you enjoyed the blog... I will write about London FROM HOME SWEET HOME!
Love ya's.