Italian Treasures - Tour of Rome

Waking in Italy! YES! Down for a scrumptious breakfast with everything you could imagine and more... My absolute favourite was the orange, lemon and carrot juice!  Onto the bus by 7.30 and off to Vatican City! Already Grant and I have decided that travelling in a tour is the only way to go as we bypassed the enormous queue to Vatican City at this hour of the day. 

We toured the Vatican museum, wowed by art works, sculptures, tapestries hearing the story of it all through our whisper headsets. Next we visited the Sistine chapel.... Wow!!!!!!! Speechless... 

Then even more speechless as we tour the Basilica! It is incredible to believe that it seats 55,000 people! The perspectives and the grandeur are somewhat overwhelming. There is just so much to see and absorb... Then out into St. Peter's square! Wow!!! Our entire tour group had our photo taken in the square - this will be an awesome memento of the trip!

A short time for shopping in the Basilica and I purchased for mum a set of rosary beads made by the nuns in Vatican City out of rose petals! They are gorgeous! The perfume is amazing! I also purchased a set of rosary beads for myself and a necklace! They were all sent over to the sacristy to be blessed and delivered to our hotel room later! Back out to the bus and we travelled to the roman forum... Oh my goodness, it is just so hot... Well over 30 degrees... The history here is mind blowing. 

We are walking down roads paved in the year 65BC. The ruins of the roman forum are still incredibly intact! So many photo opportunities! We even visiting the burial place of Julius Caesar. The Collosseum was our next visit! Oh my goodness what an incredible place! The tour guide almost has us imaging gladiators in the arena!  The heat is cruel... We really do need to find shade and water! 

Many are the ways to make money from tourists in Rome and there are the most incredible array of gladiators awaiting payment for photos with them, gypsies begging, vendors selling everything from water, to Gucci, to trinkets....

Next stop on our tour was one of my favourites so far... Visiting the Trevi fountain. 

In keeping with the local legend I threw one coin in to ensure that one day I retune to Rome, one coin in to find love in Rome, but did not throw in the third, which is to divorce...

Our tour continued on around the baroque area visiting the pantheon, churches, plazas, the Spanish steps and sooo much more. The food highlight of the day was the cremed iced coffee by the pantheon, really hard to describe just how good and how cold it tasted but it is worth returning to Rome for!

Back to the hotel to shower and change and out for a traditional dinner of lasagna for Grant and cream salmon spaghetti for me! Agh Rome, what a MAGICal day!