Rome- Fancy Steps and Amazing Art

After we left the Coliseum we rode the subway to the Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Plaza) to take a look at the infamous Spanish Steps. The Plaza itself is just beautiful with some very high end shopping and horses waiting with carriages to take anyone for a ride. There is a beautiful fountain (credited to Bernini) called "fountain of the boat." From the posters around the square there is also a ballet show there at the foot of the steps on Christmas Eve which I bet was just magical. The Spanish Steps are the widest steps in Europe and lead up to a church (what else?) that I didn't learn anything about. To be honest- the Spanish Plaza is where I saw the most gypsy like people, and people vying for your money- which was kind of a downer after a while....but I really really loved seeing the steps. There were lots of places to eat but we chose a sweet little British Tea house. I was so excited because it was just the kind of place I absolutely could never go with my kids. It was the most expensive meal I ate in Italy- but it was yummy and I felt 10 shades of spoiled for being able to have such a treat.

We left the Spanish Plaza and went off to see the richest museum in the world- The Vatican Museums. I decided I'd like to lay my eyes on that Sistine Chapel and I had NO idea how far I'd have to walk to get there. We made our way through the museum at a purposeful pace and it took us winding through the museum for 2 hours and 15 minutes to get to the Sistine Chapel. Then after we saw the Chapel we walked another 90 minutes to get out of the museum. I had absolutely NO idea how big this place was.

There are relics from every civilization in the world here and you can almost smell the wealth in the air.

However, I've been to quite a few museums and to be honest this was the MOST poorly labeled museum I've ever been to. I wish I had paid the extra 7 euro for a headset with a little device to hear about what everything was....although then maybe I would have been there another couple hours. By far my favorite part of the museum were the tapestries. I've always been so impressed by the sheer size of tapestries and for some reason they feel like they must involve more talent than painting. Although I can neither paint or make a tapestry so what do I know? Obviously most of the art is so old and protected from light and no flash photography can be taken of the art to help preserve it but I will always remember their sheer size.

You can't take pictures in the Sistine Chapel- and even though I really wanted to I decided to be respectful of Michelangelo's masterpiece. It really was a singular experience and it's so hard to believe it was all painted by one man- and so very long ago.

After walking so so so much through the museum and standing for what felt like 100 years none of us were interested in going around the corner to stand in another line to see St. Peter's Basilica. I was wishing for a hotel room to take a breather in so I could see it....just not right then. But, I believe them: it's the largest church in the world....I just didn't want to stand in line to see it.

We couldn't leave Rome without some gelato. I am happy to say it was very very very yummy. It's probably good that I didn't discover gelato earlier in my trip otherwise I may have had a heftier weight gain at my check up this week!

I was happy to get back to my babies in time to kiss them goodnight. I'm not often away from them at all- let alone for a whole day. I missed them but I was so so so very grateful to Mike for making this day possible to me. It would have been a terrible shame to leave Italy never having seen at least a small part of the marvels of Rome.

I uploaded pictures of a tapestry- adoration of the Magi, the Sistine Chapel, and the staircase at the museum- all of which were amazing but that my camera didn't have any pictures of.