Saturday, October 20, 2012

Italy::Day 2 Colosseum & Vatican Tour

We all slept really well on Thursday evening, and felt much better on Friday morning. Which was a good thing, because we had no time to waste with so much to see! :) We had pre-arranged a tour and met our guide at the Colosseum to start out the day.

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The Arch of Constantine

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Walking up the Palatine hill

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Looking back at the Colosseum

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The Stadium of the Palatine

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What amazed me was how all of this history was so close and unprotected. History that we walked on, got up close to and could touch made the historical facts really come alive.

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Next we walked to the Roman Forum. Amazing!

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After a full morning we stopped for lunch at a spot that our tour guide suggested. I had a ginormous salad!

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After lunch, we headed to Vatican City.

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Walking through the different galleries. This was the Gallery of Tapestries.

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This was the Gallery of Maps, which takes its name from the 40 different maps frescoed on the walls. Beautiful.

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The Room of the Immaculate Conception.

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The Holy Door. This door is opened and closed by the Pope during every Jubilee year.

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Inside St. Peter's Basilica

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Pieta... by Michelangelo

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We also saw the Sistine Chapel where Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the chapel. It was breathtaking. Sadly you are not allowed to take pictures even without flash. And the guards yell quite loudly "No photos!!!!" while clapping their hands if they see anyone try. (The boys started using this saying later trying to get us to stop taking so many pictures. Ha!)

Banners are hung when the Pope is going to say mass and their is canonization of Saints.

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St. Peter's Square

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The Pope's Security is the Swiss Guards in full uniform.

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After a full day of amazing sights and history we needed a little snack and Tyler knew of just the place. He has been to this gelato spot a few times and led us right there.

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First Italian gelato! :)

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We went back to the hotel to rest up a bit before dinner. We were all pretty tired, still from jet lag and from our full day of sightseeing so we were looking for something easy and low-key for dinner. Tyler knew just the place. He and his friends had found this Turkish restaurant and frequented it quite often.

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Tyler ordering kebabs for all of us.

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Another great day in Italy!!!

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