*Italian Adventures*

As promised, we have gathered and sorted through all of Paul's pictures of Rome to share some of the fun we had in Italy with you all! After Kim & Josh visited our city for a week, we took a week of vacation and traveled to Rome and Venice. It was INcredible! I'll get some pictures of Venice to post in a few days.

We began our journey in Madrid for a night to see a few of the sights there...and also to have Starbucks (the rumors are true - Starbucks doesn't exist in Italy; but why would it need to with the delicious Caffe Latte's?!). As per usual on our budget airlines, our flight to Italy was delayed so we had some nice downtime in the Madrid airport.

Our first stop in Roma: The Colosseum! Words can't express how cool it was to see this historical site first hand. It rained pretty much all day to welcome us to the city. We didn't love the rain gift at first but after the first few hours, we embraced the fact that we were soaked and freezing! We returned to see the Colosseum the next night so Paul could take some pictures without the rain.

After the Colosseum, we took the metro over to Vatican City to hang out with the pope. I guess he was busy that day so we didn't get to hang out... But, we did see the museum, St. Peter's Basilica, and the Sistine Chapel. All were incredibly huge and unbelievable. My favorite was the Basilica and climbing to the top of it's dome to overlook Rome. All 324 steps were worth it to

see the aerial view...If it hadn't been for that darn rain, it would have been gorgeous! The Vatican was full of paintings, sculptures and nuns - it was great! I was missing Cairo so this dog offered to be my friend.

Here are some real live Italians checking out the statues in the Vatican.

Paul was being rebellious and snapped this shot of the unbelievable ceiling in the Sistine Chapel. Cameras are forbidden but he got this great shot without anyone knowing.

The next day, we enjoyed sunshine with light rain while walking around seeing the rest of the

sights. We visited the Trevi Fountain in the morning. This fountain was huge and intricate... I would say it looked less like a fountain and more like a large building spewing water into a swimming pool! It is said that if you throw a coin in, you'll return to Rome someday - I hope it's true!!!

Like all the fountains in Rome, the Trevi is fed through aqueducts outside of the city making the water totally safe and delicious to drink. We kept our Nalgene's full all day!

After lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, we checked out the Spanish steps, many courtyards and the Parthanon. It was built with a 30 foot open circle in the ceiling; the floor was built with a slight slope to allow rain to makes it's way out. Very cool structure!

This last picture sums up our feelings of Rome perfectly: