Friday, July 9, 2010

Italy- Tuesday

On Tuesday we visited the Vatican. The Vatican really requires at least an entire day! There is so much to see! P1020370

We entered into this cool courtyard …


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and then into the Vatican museums. They are made up of long halls containing a plethora of sculptures, tapestries and frescos.

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Laocoon and his sons- A famous sculpture depicting a scene from Greek and Roman mythology.

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One of the Frescos in the Vatican. Possibly by Raphael, but I don’t really remember. There were so many!

After the frescos, we were led into the Sistine Chapel. It was amazing, but unfortunately, no pictures were allowed (although Nate has one that he snuck 15 years ago).

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After we were finished in the Sistine Chapel, we decided to take the trek up to the top of St. Peter’s Basilica(That's me carrying Luke on our walk up). There are approximately 550 steps up to the top, but you can pay extra to take the elevator part of the way, and then you only walk about 320. So we paid the few extra dollars but we were still winded when we got to the top!

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It was a beautiful view though! And worth every step! You can walk all around the dome and get a 360 degree view of Rome. Beautiful!

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On our way back down, we stopped here and went to a gift shop where we bought a postcard to send to the kids because the Vatican mail is famously faster than Rome’s post!

Lastly we went inside St. Peter’s Basilica. WOW! Everything was so ornate! It was crazy!

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Michelangelo’s Pieta- beautiful!


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The altar by Bernini




Unfortunately, we were unable to make to the catacombs, because the Vatican closes at 6 pm. But the time we had there P1020450was great!





After leaving the Vatican, we headed out to find a place to eat for dinner.

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On our walk to Piazza Navona, we passed Castel St. Angelo and crossed over the river.


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Piazza Navona- we found a great little restaurant here and a great end to our 2nd day in Rome!