Rome, Italy

For Thanksgiving weekend, I went to Rome with my roommate and co-workers. We found great Ryanair Flights (for really cheap) and because it's the off season for tourism, we found a great deal on a rental apartment. It was a super cute, 2 bedroom flat with kitchen, only 5 minutes from the Colosseum. We left Germany on Black Friday and flew back Tuesday afternoon.

The Colosseum

We did a guided tour through the Colosseum. It was pretty interesting to walk through the place and overwhelming to think through the number of people who were killed in the fights. Our tour guide was pretty good and talked about the history of the gladiators and what took place at the location.

^My favorite purchase, a Pope Bobblehead for my grandma. I haggled with a street vendor outside the colosseum, and got a great deal : )

The Trevi Fountain

The Trevi is seen in a number of Rome set movies. We threw our coins in the fountain... guaranteeing our return trip to Rome!

The Vatican

We spent our first full day in Rome at the Vatican - and it takes about a whole day to go through it. We signed up for a guided tour. That was nice because tour groups get to cut to the front of the line to get into the museums and St. Peter's Basilica. There's over 4 miles of museums in the Vatican... lots of beautiful artwork and statues. The tour leads to the Sistine Chapel (sorry, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside of it). After the chapel, we went into St. Peter's. I don't think the front of it looks all that spectacular, but the inside is really pretty. When they were designing/decorating it, they stripped a lot of the other historical Roman sites of gold and bronze and used it in the Basilica.

^St. Peter's Basilica from St. Peter's Square

^The Pope's residence - it's the upper far left corner. Every Wednesday he comes to the window and waves. We were there on Saturday.

^On a bridge overlooking St. Peter's Basilica.

^All of us at the Vatican.

Food

^Gnocchi, my favorite meal in Italy.

^Pastrami, spinach and mozzarella pizza on the left and french fry pizza on the right!

^Gelato!! Heather eats gluten free and we found a place with gluten free cones!

^There isn't a single Starbucks in Italy. The coffee there is GREAT!! I had more cappuccinos than I can remember.

^Going out to eat with a 15 month old who drank a ton of water...