Rome
We finally made it to Rome on our long journey through Italy. In hindsight, I wish we had done Rome first. By the time we got here we were all pretty tired. The adventure of driving into Rome, trying to find the train station, returning the car, getting a cab, and finally arriving at our apartment was.....well....an adventure. The cab driver tried to rip Sarah off but she called him out on it. Ha! Rome was awesome, but coming off of a very relaxing Tuscany experience, I wasn't ready for a bid city.
We got settled into the Roman apartment and took some time to relax in the local area. The apartment was very close to the Spanish Steps and pretty much everything else we ended up doing around Rome so it really was perfect.
The first full day in Rome we actually spent at Pompei (Blog Posted Here). On the way to the meeting place we had a nice quiet walk through Rome.
After returning from the Pompei day trip, we found this summer concert series in the Piazza del Popolo.
Spanish Steps later that evening.
Our 2nd day in Rome we spent most of the morning at the Vatican (will be posting that soon). These images are some of the other areas that we walked around after the Vatican trip.
St Angelo Bridge
St Angelo Bridge
Castel Sant'Angelo
The Romans nicknamed this the "Wedding Cake" and it's not their favorite local monument. We thought it was pretty cool though. Later in the trip we went to the top - great views of the Forum.
All of the Trevi Fountain was under construction, definitely a bummer, but we still had to get the iconic experience of throwing the coins in the fountain, even if there was no water.
Anna Claire had a little bit of trouble with the coin...
I think this was supposed to be my "Gladiator" look. hahaha
This was without a doubt our favorite gelato place, and believe me, we tried a bunch! Once we found this one in Rome, we didn't go anywhere else.
Pompei
Pompei is hard to describe, if you've been there then you know what I mean. Honestly we almost skipped this excursion, but thanks to Ashlyn we decided to do it. She had learned about Pompei in school and really wanted to see it. This turned out to be one of our favorite experiences.
I'll warn you ahead of time, some of the pictures further down might be a little graphic.
It is simply amazing how well preserved Pompei is. You truly get the feeling of walking around a 2,000 year old city.
Some of the houses and rooms we went into are almost perfectly preserved, including the fresco's on the walls.
This next set is not for the kids...you can imagine the look on the girls face when they realized what the Pompei "Happy House" really was. I found it quit humorous! But all joking aside, it is amazing how well preserved these images are above each room.
And just in case you get lost...they have "arrows" in the street pointing the way. hahahahaha
This next set of pictures may be a little disturbing. If you've been there, you know.
As they excavated Pompei, they uncovered groups of people that were buried alive. This was very surreal to see in person. The girls weren’t big fans of this part. One of these pictures is an animal that was uncovered.
