Vacanza di Roma! Tuesday - Roman Forum

Next was the Roman Forum. All of these sites were outside, and it was HOT!!! The kids were just about done so we only spent a little bit in the Forum before we headed for a late lunch.

Here is a little cemetary... apparently Julius Caesar's grave is here, but like I said, it was HOT and the kids were done, so we tried to see this quickly.

Next stop... LUNCH! Pizza Pizza Pizza! Pizza everywhere!! And pasta and salad. I am all Pizza'd out! See, it was hot and the girls were done... but fortunately we found a restaurant with AIR CONDITIONING!!! Hallelujah!

After a late lunch, we headed home for cool showers and rests!! I think everyone slept from about 3-6pm so we just stayed in and made dinner Tuesday night and watched some movies.

Vacanza di Roma! Wednesday

Seeing as it was HOT (I did mention that, right? lol) and we had dragged the kids all over for two days, we decided to head to the beach on Wednesday. The train ride out wasn't too bad... maybe 45 minutes. And it took us right to the beach! We paid to get into a club and get lounge chairs right on the beach. Bought some sand toys and had a blast! We stayed longer than expected because the kiddos were so content. Of course, we all got a sunburn too!

When in Rome... LOL! Jessy decided to sunbathe topless (on the back only)

We stopped on the way back to the metro at a Pizzaria... only to find out that they didn't have pizza in the afternoon. Okay... so we ordered some pasta and other stuff. It took HOURS to get our food. The pastas came out, and we were finished for about 20 minutes before we asked for the rest... Jessy finally got her muscles about an hour later... and we told them to just cancel the rest of the food!!! AGGH!!! Here's a pic of Ang entertaining us while we waited - LOL!

And yet again, we headed home and Dustin was a wonderful husband and watched the kiddos while we us girls went out for some shopping at the Piazza di Spagna and dinner. Love you hunny! Thanks!

Vacanza di Roma! Thursday - Vatican Museum

Last day in Rome... whah!!! This day was actually cooler than the other days. We decided to head to the Vatican city first. There were basically NO WAITS!! WOW! I heard it was forever, but we must have had God on our side. Here are lots of pictures of the Vatican Museum. We ended in the Sistine Chapel... and you couldn't take pictures in it so I got some postcards.

Dustin had read that all the statues and paintings were painted anatomically correct. And then in the 1600s one of the Popes decided that all sinful flesh needed to be covered. If you look closely you can see little leaves over the 'sinful flesh' They painted over Michelangelo's paintings as well!

Winding staircase to the exit of the Vatican Museum.

Vacanza di Roma! Thursday - St. Peter's Basilica

Next stop was St.Peter's Basilica. One of the most gorgeous churches in the world. Wow! It was really cool. And we say the catacombs of the popes and Pope John Paul (the recent one, whatever number that was) tomb! Of course it was a place of worship and lots of people were praying. There were guards reminding people to be respectful and quiet. However, Karis was DONE! And was yelling and screaming... so we walked quickly! And then she chucked my water bottle and it broke and spilled water everywhere in the church! AGH! Two year olds!

This was the view of the Basilica from one of the windows in the Vatican Museum.

After the Basilica, Jessy bought a Prada for 15 euro! LOL! She actually got the purse I wanted! :( But that's okay... I got mine later that day, a little different, but the same price. Gotta love Fradas!

Vacanza di Roma! Thursday - Pantheon and Piazza Navona

After St. Peter's Basilica Jessy wasn't feeling too well, so she and Dillon went home for a nap. Ang, Dustin, me, and the girls headed towards the Pantheon. We got on the metro and were supposed to take a bus to the Pantheon. One person told us it was the #52 bus and one person told us it was the #42 bus. We ended up walking to the Pantheon (maybe half a mile) because we couldn't find those number buses at the stop!

But it was cool, we passed a fountain, turned right down a alley (and bought a few Fradas!) and went we exited the alley this is what we saw!

WOW! Right at the end of a regular looking alley! I love Rome!

It was small, but very pretty on the inside. So we decided to walk another block towards the Piazza Navona for some Gelato and Tartufo!

And they had some 'statues' that are really people painted. The girls wanted pictures with them!

There were fountains at each end of the Piazza.

And this is the last picture I took in Rome! A picture of a building that looked cool while we were waiting for the bus back to the metro... it wasn't 52 or 42... it was the #62 Bus! LOL! We saw some cool buildings and sites on the bus ride back, but unfortunately we didn't have more time in Rome!

We got up at about 4:15 the next morning and started our trek back to the airport. Got there with plenty of time to spare (we thought we might miss our flight the night before with the train ride times the website showed!) But we got on the flight and back to our house Friday afternoon!