Italy: Rome

We took a train through the Austrian Alps and made it to Rome!
The train ride was long and hot because the AC went out in our Car. We also got stuck in Florence for an hour because they shut down the main train station for a Football (Soccer) Rally! These guys are fanatical about soccer!

We finally made it to rome after dark and we had to get to our Resort (Jason's Parent's booked it for us as a gift through their time share). From the train station we took the metro to the last stop and then took the bus to the last stop till we were the last ones on the bus. The guy dropped us off in the middle of a country road on a round about with no sidewalks in total darkness. We were so lost...



Finally we came to a gated apartment complex where there was light and a place to get off the road. We asked a girl entering the complex if she knew where our resort was. She didn't but asked her friend who was leaving if he knew. He did and offered to take us (we thought...) This guy was super nice but super funny too. He had a lowered race car striped Civic with a 1000 watt Stero listening to American Rap with Disco Lights around the car. He drove us on a windy rode without sidewalks for 10 minutes. We would have walked about 3 miles if it wasn't for him... We even offered to give him $10 but he refused. God was really watching out for us, thanks for praying for us!



The next day we walked off the Metro right in front of the Colosseum! It's really huge. They say it's the biggest ampatheater in the world still! We walked down the Forum of Ancient Rome. I can't list all the things we saw there are too many. We saw about 3-4 arches. Dozens of buildings and old ruins of the capitol buildings, temples, marketplaces, palaces and churches.



We really got a good idea of the scale and grandure of the buildings when we went in a new Governemnt monument that is built like the older buildings would have looked. We were in total awe!

Yesterday we saw the Trevi Fountain first thing. It really is huge and amazing how loud it is. Almost like a small waterfall.

We also saw the Pantheon which is one of the oldest preserved buildings in the world. It was built as a temple to worship all the gods in around 150 AD but was later converted into a Catholic Church. The free standing dome is so big it remained the largest freestanding dome building in the world till the 1800s!



We also saw the Catacombes. It was amazing thinking about how these Burial Grounds were eventually used by the Christians to hide during the persecutions!

The final day of site seeing was the Vatican. We were very impressed with the Sistine Chapel where Michaelangelo painted the story of Creation & the Last Judgment. The audio Guide gave a 30 minute explaniation of the Fall of man, the redemption of Christ and the Last Judgment. It was almost like a sermon and was the closest thing that we have ever heard to the Gospel in a place like that!

The final day of our stay in Rome we spent the day resting getting ready for the Month of August were we will see about 10 cities for 2-3 nights each! We also did laundry and just relaxed all day!