Ciao Roma!

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Day 2 of my Roman adventure started out with a trip to the Vatican. This place is UNBELIEVABLE! We walked all through the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica. Everything was just so exquisite. It was so unreal to see these famous paintings that I’ve learned about in history classes so many times. The Last Judgment painting was so enormous and beautiful. Michelangelo had originally painted everyone nude, but later other artists were commissioned to come in and add clothes to a lot of the figures because it was thought to be too inappropriate. Just one leg in a painting took him one day to paint. There are probably a thousand or more legs in these paintings so you can only imagine how long it took and how much detail there actually is. All three places were definitely a display of wealth though. In St. Peters there were hardly any statues of Jesus, just a bunch of popes and a few angels or saints here and there. The size and grandeur of St. Peters is incredible. It is absolutely gigantic!! It was very cool though to walk through these famous places where millions of people have gone before and where all of the popes have spoken. Our guide told us that 20,000 people a day go through the Vatican, so needless to say there were people everywhere. It was also around 90 degrees outside. All the heat and walking made everyone pretty tired, so next stop was lunch. We had another three course meal with pasta, salad, chicken, potatoes, tiramisu, espresso, and wine. It was so much fun and the food was great. After lunch we had free time to explore. I went shopping and walked back through Piazza Navona and the Panthenon, but I liked them much more at night. After free time, it was time to say Ciao to Rome. I could’ve spent another week walking around, exploring, and shopping, so hopefully the first coin I threw in the Trevi Fountain will indeed bring me back to this great city.

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Comments

[Dad]

Rome Rocks!
Piazza Navona is my fav. When I was a kid we lived near the Spanish steps. Grandpa Frank used to take me down there and get pistacio ice crea--I remember it like it was yesterday... Love ya, Daddy