to deposit our luggage, which is never an easy thing to do on a Ryan air flight. We made it to Rome a little early, got in line to use the restroom and then walked out to catch our bus to Rome. Unfortunately, our little detour to the restroom delayed us just enough to miss the bus, we were the first people for the next bus. Our bus took us to station Termini, the main bus, metro and train station. What we didn't know was that our bus dropped us literally 50 yards from our hotel. Our hotel consisted of one medium sized room with 2 beds, a bunk bed and a very small bathroom that had an intermittently working toilet. The location of the hotel was fantastic, next to the metro station, a stones throw from the hotel and within walking distance to the Colosseum. It was beautiful weather, completely sunny and 60 degrees. We made it to the Colosseum and had a great view of it as we approached it. Now I had Rick Steve's guide to Rome and had read it multiple times and did my due diligence in researching what to do and how to do it. But I went agai
nst his advice and stood in line at the Colosseum, I could have stood in line at Palatine hill and probably saved a half and hour. We stood in line for 30 minutes and gained access to the immense structure. You walk through and just can't imagine how old this structure is and even more unbelievable is what went on here. The precursor to our stadiums today. There were a lot of people at the Colosseum but only a fraction of what would be here during the summer, that plus the fact that it wasn't hot made it a very nice experience. From here we walked over to Palatine hill and walked through the ruins and made our way across to the Roman forum area. Again, many ruins and structures, it just keeps you in awe of what they were able to achieve so many centuries ago. After walking along cobblestones paths for several hours and almost twisting...nay, breaking a couple of ankles it was time to
move on. After leaving the Roman Forum area we walked to the Pantheon past many old churches and buildings. The Pantheon is interesting because it has an oculus in the center which allows the only light into the building (at least at the time it was built, now it has some mood lighting at night). The artist Rafael is also buried here. From here we walked several small streets until we reached the Trevi fountain. The steps were filled with people, many people sat on the steps while others were lining the edge of the fountain and casting coins over their shoulders into the fountain. I must admit, each one of us jettisoned a coin into the water to ensure that we will return to Rome...I think that is a good investment. There were many vendors selling all sorts of trinkets. We took the metro home at that point, because we were all tired and still needed to officially check into the hotel. We made it back to the hotel and crashed. Our toilet wasn't working so I called the desk and they had a guy named Bruno come and fight with it, only to get it working temporarily. The original plan was to get up very early the next day and stand in line at the Vatican. We decided not to get up so early and just make our way to the Vatican at a decent hour. We finally made it to the Vatican by 9:30am and stood in the line. We were hounded by "tour groups" wanting to get us to join with the promise tha
t we could skip the line. We were not swayed, we stuck to our guns and stood in line for 30 minutes. We were herded like cattle into the Vatican museum. Man, so much to see in this tiny country. We made our way through the museum and saw all sorts of classic works by Michelangelo, Bernini and Rafael. The opulence was remarkable, there was definitely an air of "look what we own". The Vatican museum was long, with the final destination leading to Sistine chapel. The chapel was really an amazing site, I can't imagine Michelangelo putting together a scaffolding and lying on his back for several years, meticulously painting this huge ceiling. Amazing. The best part was listening to the security guards yell out "No photo!" over, and over and over again. You could tell they were definitely tire
d of saying it. I must say we did break the rules and take some photos, I think we were only busted one time. I mean really, how can you stand in this amazing room without stealing a few photos? We left the country of the Vatican temporarily after seeing the Sistine chapel. We stopped at a little outside cafe and ordered three pizzas. After filling our bellies, we walked over to St Peter's square and snapped a bunch of pictures and then got in line for St Peter's Basilica. Upon passing through the metal detector we entered into the church itself. A huge, cavernous church that is believed to house the remains of Peter, the apostle of Christ. After the basilica we decided to sit outside and enjoy the sunshine, 60 degrees should not be wasted. We pulled up a couple of steps, leaned up against a pillar and just lounged about. There were a lot of pigeons in the area waiting for people to discard their food. As we sat there, one of these birds decided to relieve himself on my wife's camera. It was a direct hit, I mean it couldn't have been more accurate. The good thing is that it landed squarely on outside of the lens and only 
caused cosmetic damage. I don't think anybody else around us was even aware that we were had just become casualties and that soon they would too. Now I could make up some old fable at this point and say it is good luck to have a pigeon relieve itself on you on a sunny Saturday in St Peters Basilica...but I don't recall that ever being talked about in Rick Steve's book, and after all, if Rick didn't say it, it can't be true. After sitting there for an hour we walked to Piazza Navona. On the way we stopped by a grocery store and purchased baguettes, chesse, chips, red pepper and some water. We parked ourselves at one of the many benches in the piazza and watched life go by. There were many people milling around just taking in the night, enjoying the atmosphere. There were many artist stands selling their wares, with many artists drawing seated tourists. The kids were amazed at their talent and would have stayed there all evening watching them if we would've let them. We left the piazza and meandered over to the Pantheon. Each piazza we went to was alive with people. Onward we ke
pt moving, to the Trevi fountain. The fountain was surrounded with people sitting on the steps, vendors selling their goods, snapshots going off and coins being tossed over shoulders. We purchased all of the kids this cool little toy, basically a very heavy balloon material filled with a flour like substance. When you molded it, it would stay in that position. It had yarn for hair and two little eyes, it was really a neat souvenir and funny to play with. Next we walked to the Spanish steps and again mingled with the crowd and took some pictures. From there we caught the Metro home. The next day we started out by going to piazza del Popolo. We bought muffins from a girl scout stand outside of a church. After eating the muffins we went into the church and sat for 20 minutes of mass. After listening to the sermon in Italian and appreciating the religious fervor, we decided to move on. We walked down to the Spanish steps and took copious pictures all the while maneuvering through the crowd toward the steps themselves. We climbed the steps, took some more pictures and took in a view of the city. At the top there was a church that we took a break in. We walked over to Borghese Gardens, which overlooked the city. We stumbled upon a few young men showing off their rollerblading ability, they were doing tricks, weaving in and out of evenly spaced cones and doing "rubber legs"...thats the best way I can describe it. We rented two pedal powered go-carts for Maddi and McKay. 10 Euro for an hour for the both of them...a small price to pay for some fun times. Next we all had pinini sandwiches and kept moving towar
d the Borghese museum. We couldn't go into the museum, not only does it cost but you have to reserve a time to visit it. We walked further through the park and found several old men playing Bocce ball. Classic. We walked back into the city, past the US embassy. Our last destination was the Capuchin crypt. When we got there it wasn't going to be open for another 10 minutes, so we decided to find some Gelato...since I had been promising Maddi for three days. We all purchased two scoops and stood by one of the many running water fountains (ones that you can fill your water bottles from. They are throughout the city). Once finished we walked to the crypt and paid a small donation to see the remains of 4,000 Capuchin friars arranged in an artistic fashion. Sharma was a little freaked out and decided to take Maddi out, while Hailey, McKay and I 
finished up. After we finished we caught the metro back to the hotel. It was a great call as we were tired and the kids were ready to just sit and relax, plus it started to downpour about 2 hours after we got back to the hotel. The next day we caught our bus back to the airport only to find our plane delayed 1.5 hours because of snow on the ground back in Germany....great, do we really have to go home?
Info
Transportation to city: Ryan Air (10 Euro/person, roundtrip); Ciampino to Rome 8 Euro/person
Transportation in city: Metro
Lodging: Viennese due BB (near Termini station)
Sites: Colosseum, Roman Forum, Trevi fountain, Spanish steps, Borghese park, Pantheon
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