Viva Italia

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Trip Start Jul 18, 2008 Previous
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  Rome, Lazio, Italy
Monday, August 4, 2008

Where to start? How about waking up to a beautiful continental breakfast in the hotel. It was a great start to our day, and exactly what we needed. After breakfast, we headed out to tour Rome for the day, and what a day it was! Our bus tour picked us up five blocks from the hotel, and off we went. We had great seats on the top of the double decker, and the temperature was a "balmy" 36 celcius, HOT! There are so many sights to see on Rome, starting with all of the incredible cathedrals. Each of them carry a rich story that was relayed to us by the tour guide. We then headed to the Colliseum in central Rome. We've seen it on TV and in printed media, but to honestly understand the true beauty of it you really do need to stand beside it and be amazed by it's size, stature, and age. We would have liked to go inside for the whole tour, but there were honestly about 1000 people waiting in line, and with only two days in Rome, we just didn't want to take up that much time. We wandered around it\s perimeter, took photo's with "Gladiators", and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. After that, we toured the main ruins in central Rome. Astounding! thousands of years have passed with some of these buildings surviving in tact. What is also amazing is how the ruins are in the middle of the city! Cars, buses, taxis, and people go by them everyday. Apartments overlooking the Colliseum? How's that for "A room with a view"? After the ruins, which took a few hours, we then headed back on our bus and made our way throughout more of Rome, but eagerly anticipated our next stop...Vatican City! Again, to really appreciate it, you need to stand in the center of the Piazza and just look around you.

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Columns, statues, fountains, history right in front of you. Cass, Brady and I went on the tour inside and were in complete awe of what we saw. Becky and Joanne took a well-needed foot/heat rest in the shades of the columns. Inside the Vatican is astounding (I'm running out of adjectives!). More than we could have possibly imagined. We toured the tombs of all the past Popes, and the silence was deafining. How can thousands of people be in one spot and it be so quiet? The artwork on the walls and ceilings, the statues, the reflections of what happened when each Pope was alive, very humbling experience. The most amount of activity seemed to surround Pope John Paul 11 tomb. No pictures allowed, but plenty of prayer suggested. Next we saw the central building commonly known as "The Wedding Cake" building, which houses the tomb of the unknown soildier. a terrible description of a gorgeous building. Again, columns and stairs of marble, statues every where you looked, fountains , and guards protecting the true virtue of the building from tourists desecrating it's sacred meaning. Breathtaking sight for anyone who sees it. Onto the food....lunch in a nice cafe in central Rome brought us air conditioned delight. True Italian pizza, pasta and beer...mmmm beer! After all of this travelling for the day, we decided to head back to the hotel for a shower and then onto dinner. A feast that you knew would be very genuine in it's presentation by the name of the restaurant...Mama Angela's Ristorante. Bruschetta....Seafood Anitpasto, Spaghetti, Rissotto, Fettuccini, and Lasagna. Followed by Tiramisu unmatched by any other, fresh chocolate mousse, dark chocolate truffle, and a three ounce shot of Sambuca....mmmm sambuca! All of our senses are full, sight sound, taste, etc.. With midnight just around the corner, we now say Arivederci! Until our next journey to Venice, take care everybody. Much love from the Koltzoo crew.

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2	3	4	5
6	The Wedding Cake Building	7	8
9	Amazing Roman Ruins	More amazing Ruins	The Colisseum
Colisseum 2	The Colisseum 3	10	11
12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19
20	21	22	Entering the Vatican
Vatican 2	Vatican 3	Vatican 4	Vatican 5
Pope's tomb in Vatican	Inside Vatican 1	Inside Vatican 2	Inside Vatican 3
1-Vatican 4	1-Vatican 5	More of the Roman Ruins	Roman Ruins

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