OK, I am finally feeling well and Alexis is well and actually went to sleep early. So I can write to you about Rome now and what else has been going on, so this blog will be a bit long.

Rome – WOW. What a week, I don’t think I have ever walked so much in my life! It was truly amazing to see so much history right before your eyes. We flew there and got an actual apartment for the week.

The flight – Alexis gave us an entertaining flight there and back. Going she was not too bad, she had a sweet lady next to her that loved her and helped me entertain her. Coming home it was bad – the flight attendant said a new law had passed while we were in Rome and that Alexis had to sit in our lap for landing and takeoff and wear a seatbelt. Alexis hated the belt and freaked out. Then there was mega turbulence and everyone screamed as drinks went flying. The flight attendant was passing a drink above over Alexis and orange juice came pouring down on her, but luckily we had her car sear canopy over her to catch it. It was a crazy flight home.

The apartment and area - It was nice and right across the street from the Vatican. It was really hard to figure out where the grocery store was. We found this little market and it was an experience. It had one brand/type of a product, so not much to choose from. A lady in there asks you what you want, she gets it all and makes you a ticket, and then you take the ticket to a man to pay. 75% of the products were fresh fruits and vegetables, some which I have never seen. Then around the corner from us was an open air market – they setup little tent trailers and sell all kinds of products, it was like a Wal-Mart outdoors. The best was the fresh fish and fruits/veggies with the flies all over them and the people smoking and passing by it lying in the open air – yummmm. Really made us grateful for the supermarkets we have at home.

Discovering Rome - For the whole week we pretty much were out from 10AM to 8PM. Alexis was a trooper staying in the stroller that long. Great thing was we got to bypass 2-3 hour long lines because we had Alexis, so they let us go straight in. YAY! No one else was crazy enough to take a baby inside these places. We went to the Vatican first and to Saint Peter’s church. We got to see the tomb of Peter in the catacombs along with other popes and we climbed to the top of the dome of the church. There was also the “Pieta” by Michelangelo in the church. The view was amazing up there. We also went to the Vatican museum and saw the Sistine Chapel with Michelangelo’s famous “Creation” painting. They did not allow photos in there though. The Vatican museum was amazing - it had all of Rome’s statues, paintings and sculptures from the past few thousand years. It was like they scoured all the ruins and put them all in one place here – makes you wonder how they got them all. Another interesting thing we noticed is that in several places within the church’s, you had to pay 50 cent Euro to light up either a portion on the church, a sculpture, or painting. They literally had little coin machines there so you can pay them – some had several in one church. Hmmm…pinching for the coin I see. Another interesting thing was the huge “gift shop” the Vatican had. VERY expensive with anything you can thing of Pope-wise, Saint-wise, Rosary bead-wise, Mary-wise, oh yeah and Christ-wise (joke cause there were more of the others listed). I also noticed a few paintings in the church with Mary seated on the throne in the middle and Jesus sat to the right of her on a smaller throne…hmmmm. OK, off my Vatican soapbox…

We saw the Coliseum and got suckered into taking an over priced guided tour. It’s Ok though, lesson learned. It was surreal being in that place for sure. There was so much bloodshed and evil in one building – mixed emotions being there. We went across from the Coliseum to see the Roman Forum, which is where there was a plethora of ruins. It was just a huge area that looked dug up, with excavations still being done on a lot of it. So much here to see and so many years of history, it really hurt your mind to try to figure it all out. It was interesting to stand where Cesar was cremated. It was also crazy how you could just touch and even lean/sit on columns & stones thousands of years old. The workmanship of they way they carved the stoned is something to marvel at, it was so smooth and precise. Trajan’s Markets built in 107 AD where also part of this Ancient Rome. The Palatine we climbed up to was a hill where the Roman aristocracy lived and where the emperors built their palaces. Now all ruins, but fascinating to walk through, one section was a whole city underground.

We visited the Castel Sant’ Angelo started in 139 AD. The Pantheon built in 118 AD was cool to see as well, not much inside to see, but a cool building. The saw the famous Trevi Fountain, Circus Maximus (field was massive), and the Spanish steps. Went walking through the fashion district and saw over priced clothing. We saw a ton of Catholic churches which were all beautiful and ornate inside.

We went to Saint Paul’s church and saw the tomb of Paul. That was surreal to see as well. We also saw Peter’s chains that held him prisoner in Rome. Seeing these things you have mixed emotions if it is TRULY the chains or their tombs. But I guess the idea of it, real or not, is still fascinating. We tried very hard to get to this road called the “Old Appian Way”. The famous legend goes, while fleeing persecution in Rome, Peter was supposed to have met Christ on this road and asked him “Lord whither goest thou?’, Christ replied “To Rome, to be crucified a second time.”. We could not get to this road. Sadness.

Ok, now the most disappointing thing was how trashy the city was - literally trash everywhere, some in piles on the ground, dirty looking buildings, graffiti, you could see the exhaust from cars in the air and lots of smokers. It is sad that the city is so uncared for. The residents looked more on the poor side and lived stacked up high on top of one another. The streets were filled with automobiles of all types and overcrowded. Definitely could not live here. Once again, made me thankful for what we have, even in Munich, the cleanest city yet!

As you could tell we saw a lot, much more than I can type. It still has not soaked in all that we saw. People there were very nice and there were a ton of tourists. Many were older and in big groups. By the end of the trip after seeing some things more than once, we felt like we could be tour guides for the area. We covered it all by foot or bus. I hope you enjoy the photos and can’t wait to get them all up.

More to come tomorrow on our 2nd trip to the zoo including Alexis and her monkey pal and other Alexis tales! Luv 2 you all! Us3