Travels with Josh -- Rome

So our second stop was Rome, the Eternal City. Only Paul had been to Rome before and he always loves it. Rome has such passion and exuberance. Though we were there for 3 nights, it really was only two days worth of visit and boy were we overwhelmed.

We started the on Sunday with a trip to St. Peters. Josh, the altar boy, got dressed in his Sunday best for high mass in front of the throne of St. Peter. The mass was Latin, so nobody understood it But the crowd ... my word, there were people from everywhere. Right in front of us were a family wearing shirts proudly proclaiming their pilgrimage from a diocese in Senegal (I think it was). And St. Peter's itself is just magnificent -- did you know that the Statue of Liberty could stand erect under the great dome of the basilica and have room to spare?

After the mass, we went outside and stood in the blazing sun. At Noon, the Pope came to an open window on the top floor of his apartments and conducted a short prayer service. Then he read greetings to all the assembled below, using a half dozen languages. It was actually pretty cool to see him in the flesh.

A quick trip back to the hotel let us change our clothes and then go on to one of Josh's "must see" stops -- the Roman Colosseum. Wow. More than 2000 years old and built to last. Perhaps it was too hot, but we didn't enjoy the ancient Forum quite as much -- it was very much in bad shape and, unlike Pompeii, it was kind of hard to imagine what the place had been like in the ancient past.

Our whole trip was kind of a time-machine journey in a way. We started with ancient Roman culture in Pompeii and Rome and then, we moved on to Medieval and Renaissance times. Our first great experience with the later period was the next day, when we went early (7:30 AM) for a tour of the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. If you EVER are going to the Chapel go at that hour -- when we arrived it was nearly empty we were able to enjoy the view without crowds for a good 1/2 hour. By the time we left the Chapel it was packed to the gills. But oh my -- how beautiful! Paul had seen the Sistine Chapel back in the 80s before it was cleaned. What an amazing difference. What great colors. Strictly speaking we weren't supposed to take pictures, but Paul couldn't resist.

Of course, every trip has to have its moments of "oops" and today was that day. First, Katy and Josh went climbing up to the top of St. Peter's basilica, and Josh dropped his camera over the side. It's a loooooong way down. Bye-bye camera. Then Katy, in her haste, left her Blackberry sitting on the bench as we sat recovering (or so we think). Bye bye blackberry (I couldn't resist that!). So we spent part of the afternoon sitting around trying to figure out what happened. Along the way, we did have a chance to do some other wonderful sightseeing. First at the Spanish steps, and then at the Trevi Fountain -- two of the most beautiful places in the world.

The tradition is that if you throw a coin in the Trevi you will come back to Rome. We told Josh he had to do it and then come back with his wife. He told us that he would bring us with him -- so we both threw coins in as well.

After that, we had dinner the last night at the Divine Sin restaurant, about which we've already written ... and that was the whirlwind Rome tour.