Rome Day 1

Well, we arrived in Rome this morning (or 2 in the morning your time). The 9 hour plane ride was just okay- none of us could really sleep- I know why they call it the red eye. :) When we landed we were greeted by a driver who took us right to our hotel. The first thing we had to do was fulfill our Sunday obligation and get to mass- and guess where we thought we'd "run in".....

Our hotel is only a couple blocks from St. Peter's so we walked right over for the 11:30 mass. The main basilica was full so we had mass in the most beautiful Blessed Sacrament Chapel. It was so beautiful and intimate. And even though it was done in Italian, we had our missal with us and knew exactly what the readings were and the prayers. They were the same prayers and readings that were at our own parrish that morning- I think that is so amazing. We had sort of forgotten that the Pope has a papal audience in Sunday's at noon so when we left the mass we saw hoards of people and heard our dear Pope Benedict XVI speaking in the square in several different languages on remembering our baptism.


He spoke from this window in his residence....


After the most seeing the most beautiful church I'd ever seen (which we will go on a 4-hour tour of tomorrow) we headed for lunch at a sidewalk cafe.


Then it was on to meet Amber, Dennis and Noah (yay!) at the Colosseum to begin our Ancient Rome Discovery tour with a brilliant docent with a PhD.


The boys thought this was so cool- they show you how the floor went over these tunnels where they kept the gladiators and animals and would pop them up under trap doors. When it opened they even had a pool of water with a giant whale and dolphin. It's just incredible- we are talking about the first century AD!

The boys in a "Roman Potty" if you will- the entire colosseum was irrigated so people could go when they had to go.

Our docent brought tracing paper and let the boys trace this "touchstone" that is supposed to grant an indulgence if you kiss the cross.

After almost two hours at the Colosseum we were off to explore the Arch of Constantine-

Then the docent gave the boys notebooks and told them how arches reflected the people they represented (and Rome today still has three amazing arches- we went to all three today). She invited the boys to draw their own interpretations of themselves onto a blank arch and she also had them "dress" a gladiator and draw an opponent for him. The art-loving boys thought this was a huge hit!

Sweet buddies...

After studying the arches- we went to the Roman Forum (aka the ruins) and saw so many amazing things- like the altar that Julius Caesar was cremated on, the Senate Julius Caesar built- (I mean it's still standing!), the groundwork for the Palentine Hill where the emporers lived, the home of the vestal virgins, the via Sacra- the road the conquering soldiers traveled during their triumph...


Here we are at the remains of the temple built to the Roman god Mars- Can you believe this was built over 600 years before Christ and is still standing?



We also saw the "belly button" of Rome- which is a stone that is they call the umblicus which is the absolute center of Rome and on this stone you could read the distance to every other city around Italy. After the long day of touring ruins we walked along this really cool street that all sorts of vendors and musicians and statues of the caesars.

Then our wonderful docent hailed taxis for us and had them take us to the most DIVINE Italian restaurant on a little back alley that was so adorable and we feasted (after walking so much we ate two appetizers of antipasta (I'm telling you- the best cheese, meats, olives, mushrooms, beans- ever), salad and a main course. Then BOTH BOYS fell fast asleep before we'd even ordered our main meal and slept through the entire evening. Remembe- Marc, Marky and I hadn't slept in two days and were still in our traveling clothes and exhausted. Dinner was great and afterwards we walked around and realized we were in the posh shopping district and looked in the windows of Hermes, Versace, Armani etc. and saw the Spanish steps. (I know this pic ended up blurry but I want to remember our fun night)

So that's Rome Day 1- my two guys are fast asleep and I'm heading off to sleep myself. I just knew if I didn't keep this blogging up I'd never get around to it once I got home. Hope you are well! Donna