A Day in Rome

Today, we took an early morning flight from Albania to Rome.  We arrived at seven am, took a taxi to our hotel, and set out to see the sights of the eternal city.

 This is Trevi Fountain.  Legend says that if you throw a coin over your shoulder into the fountain, then you will return to Rome someday.  Here is me and Lucy throwing our coins.

Sights we passed on our walk to the Colosseum.  The Monumento a Vittori celebrating victorious battles.  The Colonna Traiana is the large pillar behind us.




Next, we went to the colosseum. It's about 2,000 years old! It's so cool that we could visit something that old!

We got a picture with this guy dressed up as a Roman soldier. There were a lot of people dressed up in old Roman clothes. It was pretty cool.

 This gelato was pretty good. The thing that made it really good was that you could see the colosseum while you ate.

 There are a lot of great views from the other side too.

Our private tour guide, Laura Carbonara, told us a lot of cool stuff about all of the sights in Rome. She was born here so she knows a lot of stuff about the city and all of the sights.

 This is where Peter and Paul were imprisoned when in Rome.

Next we went into the Vatican City. It's really not a city, it's its own country. We didn't have to show our passports but we did have to go through security. The dome of St. Peter's basilica is in the background.  The following pictures are parts of the Vatican Museum which is incredible.

 This is the hall with the tapestries .  All of the ceilings were so beautifully painted in every room.

 Another cool shot of the beautiful ceilings.

 This is the main square in front of the Vatican. It's called St. Peter's Square. Every Wednesday, the Pope comes to speak there.

 This is the La Pieta inside the St. Peter's basilica. It is very large but it looks small compared to its surroundings.

 Everything in St. Peter's basilica is so massive and ornate.  It's the largest Christian church in the world.

 Every hour, the guards trade shifts at their posts. We got to watch it happen. Pretty cool. I don't know how they stay so serious, I would just burst out laughing in the middle of the ceremony.

We were all super tired when we got back to our hotel. It was a very fun and full day. (We didn't know my dad was taking the picture).