Day 10 ~ Rome

 The entrance into the Vatican Museum

 A painting by Raphael depicting Christ's resurrection

 Vatican architecture

 Inside St. Peters Basilica

 The wall that designates the end of the Vatican state

 The Swiss Guard that protects the Vatican City

 In front of St. Peters Basilica

 The Colosseum

 Us on the hop on hop off site seeing bus

Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore

 REAL pasta - by the way they don't give you spoons to twirl it with.

Genuine Italian cannoli and Sfogliatelle  

Trace and Tate with their newly acquired team ITALIA scarves

We spent the morning touring the Vatican. It is a tremendous experience.  The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is breathtaking.  The imagery and symbolism is so interesting.  I don't know how it was possible for Michelangelo to paint it all in 4 years.  We weren't able to take any pictures in that section of the Vatican.  We also went into the basement or original Constantine part of the chapel that dates back to 300 AD.  We toured St. Peter's Basilica as well.  Truly remarkable artistry from the marble floors, the sculptures of saints, the mosaic scenes and the painted ceiling.  Each element has meaning and purpose, beyond it's obvious beauty.  We then had lunch at a charming restaurant.  Bill, Taylor and I had homemade spaghetti carbonara, Tate had homemade fettucini and sausage, and Trace had a seafood spaghetti.  It was a life changing experience....Olive Garden will never be good again.  We chose to hop on a sight seeing tour bus to see some of the sights.  It was really fun and a great perspective in which to view the city.  We hopped off at Santa Maria Maggiore - the largest chapel in the world dedicated to Mary, the mother of Jesus.  It was another beautiful chapel dating back to the 14th Century.  We learned today that Rome was established as a city in 750 BC.  Everywhere you look there are ancient Roman ruins nestled among other modern elements of the city.  We came back to the hotel and relaxed by the pool at the end of the day.  We are currently watching the Euro Cup soccer match between Italy and Croatia.  Go ITALIA!!!