Yes I had to say it!! The first stop on our Italian getaway was the infamous Rome. We arrived the first night to our Air BnB pretty late so we just settled in and called it a night. Our first full day there started with our tour of The Vatican City. We booked a small group tour that took us through the museums which were ordained with huge detailed statues, beautiful tapestries and paintings, and such detailed architecture. The museums alone took us about 3 hours to get through.

We then went inside the Sistine Chapel. I can not even describe what this room was like. Standing in such a holy place with such history and beauty was such an “aww” moment. Now I will say, you are told before hand that there is a certain dress code (which I made sure we were in accordance with before getting dressed that day), NO pictures of any sort, and NO talking while inside the Chapel. If you know our two kids, the latter part is what I worried most about. We got very lucky in that the tour of the museums wore them out and they fell asleep in their travel backpacks just before entering and slept through the entire thing. Jayson and I stood there with that extra weight on our backs and just took in the ceiling and magnificence of where we were standing.

** no pictures here unfortunately… the guards make sure of it. EEKK!!**

After leaving the Sistine Chapel, we headed over to St. Mark’s Cathedral. This cathedral is unreal. Again, it has the same dress code, but photos and talking are allowed. The pictures would never be able to do this place justice though. Its detail and beauty is beyond measure. I will try to let the pictures speak for themselves if they can.

After taking a break to FINALLY eat, we headed over to the Pantheon. The fact that this structure was built in 125 AD and is still in such exquisite shape says a lot. The top of the dome is open and there are statues of the Roman gods and goddesses all around the interior wall. It is one of those places that you walk into and just feel it all… the immensity of where you are!

Next we walked up the street to Trevi fountain. Now I have seen the VERY small replica of this in Las Vegas, but man…. It is neat to finally see the real thing in person lol. The fountain is so large that you can feel the mist coming off the water while standing near it. There are levels of seating and areas to walk all around it to make sure you can see it all from different angles. Once again, our kids napped in the backpacks while we carried them. Other people always find this so amusing and even ask to take pictures of them in their backpacks like they have never seen such a thing?!

As you can guess, our day was exhausting so we decided to grab two pizzas and a bottle of wine from a local shop on the walk back to our Air Bnb. This day was actually mine and Jayson’s 5 year wedding anniversary and we spent our night eating pizza and drinking wine on the back porch of our flat while watching our kids run around. At one point we cheers each other and said if we are doing nothing more than just this, anywhere in the world, on our 50th anniversary, we will still be completely happy!!!

 

Day 2 in Rome… we started our morning out at the Coliseum. This is one of those places that I have dreamed of going for years and years and it did not disappoint. To stand inside such an enormous structure and just imagine where the gladiators stood was another “wow” moment. I don’t think Jayson and I said much to each other while walking around the Coliseum because we were so consumed with taking it all in. I don’t know how else to explain it except it is definitely a must see.

We grabbed a quick bite to eat, headed back to our Air BnB to grab our stuff and took a taxi to the train station. It was time to catch our train to the next destination… Florence!! Although we did not spend a lot of time in Rome, we got to see everything we had set out to see and loved every minute of it!