Italy!! Rome (our last day)

Whew!!  what a busy, adventure filled trip.  We were pretty much going from the time we woke up to the time we went to bed and Rome was by far the busiest.  We crammed in a tour of the Colosseum, Vatican City (including the Sistine Chapel), and the Forum all in one day (in 94 degree heat).  It's hard to believe that a whole new city was built on top of the old Rome.  

 I was so amazed that all of these designs were made with tiny little tiles - 

 all done by hand

 The colosseum was so impressive, I had to come home and rent Gladiator so I could see what it was like back then.

 A little jewelry stand on the street where we had our last dinner

I thought the driving and parking were the funniest thing to see... parallel parking on a corner?  Only in Italy!!

Italy!! - Pompeii

The city of Pompeii was once a thriving city that was unexpectedly buried under volcanic ash.  Because the ash preserved the city so well, they have been able to excavate full human bodies.  The streets, homes and even the bath house look exactly like they would have looked at that time.

 Lemon and orange stand outside of Pompeii

 The streets of Pompeii

 A bedroom (for working ladies)

 The market - frescos were painted on the walls to distinguish where different types of "groceries" were located

 The bath house in Pompeii

 The storage area where the excavated items are kept.

 Our fantastic guides - Guissepe and Valentina

 This is a LEMON - not an orange!!

 On our way back from Pompeii we drove to Naples which is on the southern coast of Italy.

 More Rome at night - the colosseum finally!!

 The girls tossing coins into the Trevi Fountain.  Hopefully, we'll be back!!

Italy!! Assisi and Rome at night

Next we headed to Rome... on the way there we stopped in Assisi which is the home of St. Francis Basilica.  It's perched up on a mountain (which made it easier to defend) and was such a cute little town.  I could have spent more time here but we were off to make our way to Rome.   We ate a yummy lunch in Assisi then jumped on the buses again.  This time we had more bus drama - the little bus (the one we were on, of course) had the air conditioning die.  It was especially noticeable since the temp outside was 94.  We stopped and climbed on the big bus and made an extra cozy trip to Rome.

 authentic Italian lunch

Rome at night - Vatican city

It was so nice seeing the Vatican at night (as we discovered the next day) because it was much cooler and there were almost no people there