What to say about Rome? We did the typical day at the Vatican, except we had purchased tickets a few months ago (thanks for the recommendation Bill & Jill!) for the Scavi tour. Google it! This tour was the most amazing experience. Our guide was a seminary student in his second year of his doctorate and he was remarkable. The Scavi tour is a tour under St. Peter’s basilica. We were walking the same path as St. Peter and actually saw his remains. We both agreed that as a life experience, this was one of the most spiritual and fulfilling moments. Praying next to his grave is impossible to describe. You really must experience it. Unfortunately our tour ran long & we were unable to get to the Sistine Chapel before closing time & I cried (literally)….So we agreed to go back later this week.

Rome has many pros & cons. First, the pros…history and character in the architecture is stunning. It’s impossible for an American to comprehend a building built in 68aD. We went to the Colosseum and I never knew it was originally a building of complete marble that was later looted. I always thought it was made of brick. To imagine that space of complete marble is unbelievable. A building built in 68aD that holds 65,000 and it only took them 8 years to build it…awestruck was how Steve described it.

The pope was blessing the people on Wednesday morning, but we chose not to become 2 people in a crowd of 100,000 in Vatican City. Perhaps we will regret the decision later in life, but a crowd of that size in an unfamiliar place was too much for us.
We felt those were the highlights of our 2 days in Rome. Plus we did laundry.
Now, the cons….dirty. Very dirty. And touristy, over the top. A lot of poverty & beggars at every corner. I went for my morning run & didn’t feel safe alone. But even with those few cons, we do say you really should go! Your experience can be as positive as you make it, just don’t focus on the bad stuff!