Day 10, 11, and 12...

Day 10 and 11 we were in Rome before we headed back to New Brunswick. After getting of the ship - for those of you that have taken a cruise before you know what I mean when I say how impressive it is with how organized the ship is at getting all of the thousands of people off and luggage picked up - we took a bus to Rome and spent two nights in a great hotel that was within walking distance to many great shops and restaurants. In order for us to be able to see Rome we decided to purchase a 24 hour bus ticket that allowed us to hop on and hop off a guided double decker bus. This was the best decision we made; it allowed us to see all the spots we wanted to and saved us a lot of money on taxis since Rome is so big. Below are some of my favorite pictures/spots that we went to.

the history in Rome is insane...everywhere you look there are beautiful reminders of long ago

this felt like a movie set to me...such amazing architecture and streets

used to be the Parliament building, but is now a museum...sure blows our Parliament buildings out of the water...this building was massive and could be seen from a lot of places in the city...we had a hard time getting it in one shot, so this is the best we could do...also I swear Jason had a wonderful time, every picture I seem to post of him though makes him look super cranky.

the famous Trevi fountain...legend has it that if you throw a coin in you're guaranteed to come back to Rome, throw two coins in and you'll fall in love, throw in three and you'll get divorced...we didn't throw in any...we loved Rome but we saw it one, so no need to go back...that's how we vacation anyways :)

man oh man this building gave me goosebumps when I was standing at the bottom of it looking up...I saw the freaking coliseum?!?!?! Still amazes me...

there's the Parliament building again poking through in the distance

waiting for the bus at a stop

another typical street....check out the street lights that are strung across from building to building

enjoying my audio tour...the buses had fifteen different languages that you could listen too...the trick was to find the right station when you got on another bus...I have no idea why they didn't make every bus have the same channels, but they didn't

balconies like this are everywhere in Rome...this is another fond memory I have...they were always so beautiful...makes sense since everyone lives in apartments...this is their "yard" to decorate and make their own

another common sight in Rome...new and old mixed in together...our tour told us that they've been trying to dig a third subway line underground forever, but have never been able to complete it because they keep bumping into ruins and artifacts...crazy eh?

this is a castle that we toured...unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures... it was built in 200 AD...it was surreal waking around in this structure and thinking about how old it was...here we're lucky to walk around in something built in the 1800's...but 200 wow!

Last big adventure in Rome - or outside of Rome I guess I should say - was the smallest country in the world...Vatican City. This is the wall that surrounds the country, and that is the lineup to get into St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican museums (where the Sistine chapel is). We however did not stand in that line. We paid for a guided tour that not only gave us loads of information on things we saw in the museums, but also allowed us to skip the 3 hour lineup.

St. Peter's Basilica square (where you see on television, especially when it's time for them to choose a new Pope).

Recognize this? Maybe a closer picture would help...

Yup we stood underneath this masterpiece in awe for quite awhile. You weren't allowed to take pictures, but someone snuck a few in - with the flash off of course so he didn't damage anything.

one of the many pictures I have of St. Peter's Basilica. I'm only posting this one and the next because the pictures just aren't doing this church - the largest one in the world that holds 60 000 people - justice! There was so much detail everywhere you look. Honestly, it was hard to walk around there without your jaw dragging along the floor.

This was one of only two sculptures that Michelangelo did and actually signed. This sculpture has had a lasting impact on me. It was huge and the first thing to my right when I walked into the basilica. Michelangelo's inspiration came for this sculpture because he felt like Mary needed a place to be able to weep and grieve the loss of her son. Wow eh? I don't know, something about this gave me goosebumps and brought tears to my eyes as I stood there. I will never forget...

Well guys that's it. I know I know it's been a lot eh? Thanks for taking this journey with me. I will post an update soon on summer stuff, but I wanted to get this out of the way first. After Rome we had a 10 hour flight back to Toronto that I was dreading, but it actually wasn't too bad; the time went by relatively quick.