Our European Trip: Rome

This is officially the last post about our trip to Europe!  Sad I know but I'm thankful to finally have it all documented and done!  Wowza we did a lot!! So our last day in Italy we made it to Rome with a plan to take another double decker bus to see the sites.  The disappointing part of this was that on that day there were silent strikes and demonstrations so a lot of the sites were closed.  

We left Ostia on the train and made our way into Rome where we first walked around the Colosseum and the old ruins of the town.  The Colosseum was impressive but was closed for the day due to the strikes.  So I could barely see inside of it.  Maybe someday we will make it back to go inside.

We had a little fun doing a "senior pictures" photoshoot!

And then Liz got stuck in the bushes...

Once we finished our pictures and being dorks we found a bus and hopped on!  Of course it was packed and standing room only.  So we rode it until we got to the Vatican.  The Vatican was the only thing open while everything else was closed.  We were starving so we found a cafe to eat at.  Warning- if you go to the Vatican they can charge you $22 for a FROZEN pizza!  It was crazy how expensive everything was but I guess when you're in the Vatican you can do that.

We decided to take a walking tour of the Vatican as it is overwhelming and the lines are sooo long.  So if you pay to take a walking tour with a guide, you skip the lines and likely learn more than the average tourist.

We went into the Vatican City Museum.  Lots and lots of statues and art work.  By the end of the tour it all sort of blurred together.

We made it to the Sistine Chapel...

This place was incredible.  Much much bigger than I expected and full of paintings.  I was in awe!  

Lastly, we went to the new basilica... gorgeous!

After a long day of walking and touring, we got back on the bus and left the Vatican!

We caught the train and headed back for our last night in Italy.  Ryan and I were so full and didn't want a huge dinner so we headed to our favorite little place for wine and appetizers, followed by one last Gelato!  Liz and Dustin decided to try our awesome find restaurant and they loved it just as much as we did!  Once we all got back to the hotel, we played cards, drank wine and beer and packed.  

We had a long day of travel back to the US- including an hour delay on our flight from Rome to Chicago.  Let me say that when your flight it already 10 hours long, an hour delay is just annoying!

But we made it and now we have fantastic memories and stories to share!

I hope you've enjoyed my very slow recap of our European trip.  I assume we won't get back to Europe for 25 years- until we are done having kids and paying for college!  Yikes!  It could be a while!

Ciao,