The Colosseum and New Years

The Colosseum.  This was the very first thing I saw when we got to Rome because we got off the metro and BAM! it was across the street.  I LOVE this building!  The fact that it was finished being built around 80 AD and it has gone through SO much and is still standing truly is remarkable.  I don't like to think about all the sad and disturbing things that happened here, but it is incredible to see the strength it conveys.   

This is the "basement" of the Colosseum.  This is where they held all of the prisoners, animals, everything they used to make the fights interesting.  It was of course covered when it was being used.

Through one of the arches you see this next to the building.  It was pretty fantastic too. 

If you were to go watch an execution or fight, this is what it would have looked like as you were looking for your seat.  It is seriously the size of a football stadium. 

Another view

This was the last night before we came home.  Todd and I and just had a wonderful dinner together of the best pizza I think I have ever had and we were walking back to our room and the view was just too good not to take a picture!  It is like our picture of us saying goodbye to Rome. 

New Years was CRAZY!  This was the view from our window in our hotel just after midnight.  If you notice all of those barricades, yeah that is so the ambulance can get in and out of the crowd.  You literally could not walk through all of this because it was just people.  People were lighting off M80s in the middle of this crowd and deafen us all for a few minutes.  Todd and I were in the middle of that when Midnight hit and as we're counting down, I start looking around and I notice multiple people around us have bottle of champagne and are shaking them.  I turned to Todd in a panic and said,"Todd we have got to move, we have got to get out of here!"  He just smiled at me and asked, "Where are we gonna go?!  It is everywhere!  We just have to bunker down and deal with it!"  I resigned my need to move and just kind of went with the flow.  Luckily we didn't get too much alcohol on us, and surprisingly it smelled good, so I didn't mind too much.  :)

Us right in the thick of it.  We were a little overwhelmed if you can't tell!

There was a huge stage in the middle of the road with a couple bands playing music.  This picture was taken before the party really started so that is why we look so happy! :)  So that is why we look blue, but if you look in the back ground you can see the Colosseum.  It was an awesome place to celebrate the new year!

Our girls enjoying their spoils from Italy.  We missed these two face dearly while we were away!  Luckily while we were there we were able to facetime with them every day.  We truly appreciate my parents for taking care of our precious girls while we were away!  Family truly is a blessing!

This trip was so much fun!  It was good to spend time with Todd's family without the stress of everything that has been going on since June.  It has been a very tough year, and it was good to just let loose for a few days and not have to stress about anything.  Todd's parents basically paid for the trip, and as fun as this trip was we would much rather have them here to share our lives with.  I am glad we decided to do this, because I think we all needed it! 

The Vatican

The main dome in St. Peters Basilica.  This building was RIDICULOUS!  Just to give you a frame of reference, you can fit a football field in this dome.  As in the end zone is sitting in the dome and an end zone is sitting on the floor.  That is how tall it is!  And if you notice how ornate and detailed it is, that is how the entire ceiling of this HUGE building looked.  Absolutely marvelous! 

The Pietra.  This is the first commission that Michelangelo did for the church.  It is of Mary holding the Savior after his crucifixion.

This is the pulpit.  Under this canopy is where Peter's body supposedly lies. 

Just to give you an idea of the magnitude of this building, look behind us, yeah those are people walking around.  It is HUGE.  It is ridiculous how big this building is and how much money went into it.  I have decided that no one should give the LDS church a hard time EVER again!

The Swiss Guard.  I loved their uniforms!

This was one of the sculptures Michelangelo used as inspiration when he painted the Sistine chapel.  We did see the Sistine Chapel, but pictures weren't allowed and we wanted to respect their reasoning behind it.  It was pretty amazing though.  

Behind me is St. Peter's Square.  It is huge and pretty amazing how old it is. 

Rome

This is the Pantheon.  It was originally built as a temple for the pagan gods, but that was later changed to a catholic church.  It has Rafael's tomb in it.  If you have seen/read Angels and Demons, this is part of the story...

On New Years Day we took a little day trip to the Mediterranean to this cute little town called Ostia Antica.  The ONLY place to eat that was open was this restaurant that specialized in sea food.  I was excited!  Most everyone else was not.  I ordered this spaghetti with lobster... AMAZING!  I was happy we stopped there!  :) 

Something about Rome that pretty much amazed me was there were ruins EVERYWHERE!  You really get the feeling of just how ancient this city really is!  Behind us used to be a huge palace that housed basically royalty.  Amazing!

The Mediterranean!  The water was so blue and beautiful!  The beach was completely lined with sea shells so it was pretty fun to go and pick out sea shells.  It was a beautiful beach and very quiet.  I think part of that is because a lot of people were hung over, but that's fine!

The Forum.  This was basically their shopping mall.  It was cool to walk through all of this and see what it used to be!  The work that went into the beauty of their city was absolutely awesome!

This was a typical street, notice all the cars.  Those were basically what all the cars looked like.  A lot of smart cars are driven there.  And don't step out in front of a car assuming they will slow down, they don't!

This is the best gelato in Rome!  As in, the Pope comes here to get his gelato!  We found this amazing place the last day we were there... unfortunately.  After you pick what kind of ice cream you want they ask if you want cream.  I wasn't exactly sure what they meant and then I saw this HUGE bowl full of FRESH whipping cream!  You had better believe I want cream!  It was some of the best ice cream I have ever had! 

These are the spanish steps.  This was the day before New Years and there were a LOT of people in the city!  But it was pretty beautiful and a very nice part of the city to visit!

Castle St. Angelo.  We weren't able to go in here because it was closed for the holiday, but even just to walk around it was pretty magnificent.  Also, this is another Angels and Demons kind of place.... This is where they kept the cardinals in the book.  Just giving you a frame of reference.  :)

Rafael's Tomb in the Pantheon

Circo Maximo.  Behind us is where they held their chariot races.  Also, if you notice the buildings behind us... those are part of the ruins as well.  Absolutely amazing to be there!

This is called the Trevi Fountains.  They are huge and absolutely spectacular.  If you throw a coin over your right shoulder into the fountain you basically promise to return to Rome someday.  I am really hoping I keep that promise!  :)

We did a lot of this!  We probably walked at least 5 or more miles a day.  I loved moving all the time!  It was a lot of fun!

Florence

When we first got on the plane.  We look happy, fresh and excited!  We had a non-stop flight from SLC to Paris... yeah a long flight!  I got some sleep but mostly we were just excited!

This was our first gelato in Italy.  I am in love of gelato.  We had at least one a day!  Delicious!  If you notice the street behind us, it was still decorated for Christmas and it was BEAUTIFUL!  We loved walking down the streets with tons of lights and decor.  It truly was magical! 

This is our illegal picture of the David by Michelangelo.  Those other sculptures in the hall are unfinished works by Michelangelo.  They were beautiful and it was pretty surreal to be looking at such a famous work of art!  It is beautiful, and as you can tell, it's quite large as well!

This is Michelangelo's tomb.  It was in a church named San Croce and this church also had the tombs of Galileo, as well as Nicolini.  It was pretty cool to be in such a place!

This is the Duomo in Florence.  This is THE church in Florence.  It was SO beautiful!  The outside of it was just magnificent and very large! 

We decided that we wanted to climb to the very top of the Duomo.  So we climbed 463 steps to the top!  A lot of the way it looked just like this staircase, but as you start climbing over the dome part, it gets a little sketchy.  It was definitely an adventure!

This is the view from the top!  Worth every single step!  It was so gorgeous to look out over the city and all that it holds!  Italy truly is full of beauty!  No wonder why so many artists came from this area of the world!

There is a river that goes through Florence and it is flanked by many apartment buildings and shops.  If you notice, the bottom floor of all the buildings are shops and merchants, and the other floors are apartments.  That is how most of the buildings were there.  It was pretty amazing really! 

We thought this picture was pretty funny... David always gives us that look though so nothing new! Behind us is a bridge that has a bunch of gold jewelers on it.  It is pretty cool to walk through there, but it is VERY high end... we didn't purchase anything in that part of town..  ;) 

This is the inside of the Duomo.  Isn't it beautiful?!  Very exquisite work!

The morning we left Florence we decided we wanted to do a Segway tour.  BEST. IDEA. EVER!  We LOVED it!  I seriously want to purchase one!  I just have to live closer to town to justify it though...  

Florence was so amazing!  There are seriously just piazzas full of sculptures and works of art!  It is a smaller city so it definitely had a charming feel.  We stayed just down the street from the Duomo and it was pretty spectacular to walk outside of our hotel and see this building just down the street!  We were only in Florence for really only a day and a half and then we took a train to Rome.  Just being there for that long, we did a lot and had a great experience!