Coloseum

Sadly, the Coloseum is falling down. Still very impressive to walk up to it. We weren't able to go inside because we arrived after they were done selling tickets for the day. It closes at sunset. Don't tell my friend Meigan, (she and her husband were in Rome with us) I was somewhat glad we couldn't go inside, it meant we wouldn't be re-enacting a scene from Gladiator. She's the theatrical one, not me. It was funny, there were a lot of cats around the Coloseum, Meigan sat with one and we joked that it was probably trained to pickpocket. As it turns out, there was a homeless lady there with a ton of cats around her cart. We appropriately took a picture and called her "the cat lady." I wonder if she would have wanted a part in our re-enactment?

Trevi Fountain

There are fountains and statues all around Rome. Every walk we took led us past tens of them. There are probably hundreds all over Rome. So, in all honesty, I have tons of pictures of statues and fountains that I don't know the names of or even significance of. The most famous of these is Trevi Fountain. The legend is that if you throw a coin in the fountain, you will return to Rome...we tossed a coin in...we shall see if this fountain makes our wish come true. This place was busy all times of the day. This was not really surprising being that Rome doesn't really wake up until early afternoon and doesn't go to sleep until well into the wee hours of the morning.

Vatican

The Vatican was magnificent! Even before we walked inside, it's quite impressive. It is built at the end of a street, making it quite exciting to see it all the way down the road. The "arms" that are "hallways" built on either side are huge and really appear to be arms, especially from the view from the top of the tower. The climb to the tower was something. (Our friends tell us it is nothing compared to the climb of Notre Dame) But it is quite worth it after all those narrow, winding stairs. The paintings on the dome and everywhere are impressive and beautiful. Precious stones and metals were used to build everything in the Vatican and it all looks amazing.