When In Rome....

Take lots of pictures!!! Obviously I cannot load them all here, so I will choose some of my favorites to share. I ended up take a minimum of 150 pics at each port, and that was a slow day. Some ports it was upwards of 300.

Here was one of the huge fountains in a round about. I don't know what ended up being more impressive....the fountain or the fact that we walked across 3 lanes of this traffic trying to get where were headed.I was absolutely in love with the architechture of Rome. Especially all the old doors....I ended up with countless pictures of random doors and archways.

If you go to Rome you have to go to Trevi fountain and throw a coin in, as good luck in returning again someday. I just recenly found out that the city takes all the coins thrown in (hundreds of Euros a day) and uses it to feed the homeless. What a wonderful way to keep the city beautiful....make sure even the poorest citizens are taken care of!

After Trevi, we went and got the most amazing gelato, but I forgot to take a pic of that....sorry, I was devouring the richest chocolate and strawberry ever. And Nansi had their coconut which was to die for, I mean, literally, it was like eating the most creamy, freshest coconut in the world. But then after dessert we headed to a restaurant (which was a bit pricey, I think we ended up paying some crazy 80 euros and it wasn't any more impressive than my cooking...I even made better pasta carbonara when I got home) where we drank some decent house wine, ate a lot, and then walked it off around the city!

We were on top of the Spanish steps when I looked to my right and saw this view:

Looking down towards the Spanish steps I saw a gathering of artists. We didn't have time to get my picture drawn, maybe next time!

There were 2 matching bulidings that I ended up with several pics of, eventually getting this one through an arch.....I was just taking a pic of the arch and got a bonus!

I thought England was crazy parking nose to nose, but we have nothing on the Romans! Seriously..... I need to take lessons from them!

One of my favorite pics I took on the Angel Bridge. Hard to choose when there is statue after statue of these gorgeous things, but I thought the silouette was wonderful.

Here I am with the Swiss Guard....and don't they look pleasant? Who can guess who designed such beautiful uniforms? I think most people would be shocked to find out!

St. Peter's Cathedral was one place I really wanted to go in my lifetime. I cannot begin to explain how I felt sitting on a pew praying here. Calm and at home is as close as I come to describing it, and it isn't quite right. I also was able to kneel before the tomb of John Paul II.....which I know non-Catholics don't really understand, but even before I chose to finish up my catechism, he was a man I considered very holy, and as a human, a very good man. This was St. Peter's at Sunset.....it literally took my breath away. I wish I had time to do more close-up pics, but I was too busy literally running on cobblestone to try and catch the train back to port.

In the end, Rome was an adventure. Being the bad Catholic, I completely forgot the Epiphany, and the trains were on some screwy schedule. The computer screen would say one was coming, but it wasn't really, because they were running fewer trains. In the end, we barely made it back to Civitavecchia on time, and I ended up with my whole body being sore from running in non-cushiony flats trying to make the mile from the train station to the boat. I considered catching a flight from the next port, I was that upset with the way the cruise ran their bus shuttle, but as you will see with the pics to follow, I was very glad I decided to stay. That, and they didn't give us our passports (that they collected upon boarding) until Egypt, so really, I was screwed!