Rome

Rome - Day 1

What can I say?  It was Rome!
It was amazing, delicious, fragrant, sunny, rainy, cozy, exhausting, exhilarating and more.
One of my top 5? 10?  Well one of my top vacation get-a-ways with Q.
We began the trip with a late departure out of Abu Dhabi - 11:30 pm.  Was nice, gave us time to get the kids ready for bed and dropped off to our good friend's house for a few days.  The kids were excited for a few days of sleepovers with their buddies, they were pretty happy when we left.

Traveling with Q is a very different experience than the "family caravan" travel I am accustomed to.  There are no diaper bags, no being saddled up with 5 bulging backpacks (one being my own), and loaded down with snacks,  game boys, crayons, coloring books and all sorts of entertainment for the long road ahead.  This trip was quite the opposite.  We packed really light - taking only a backpack each.  We spent the waiting hours in the airport lounge- which I have to say was very nice.  Chicken curries, byrami rice, noddles and all sorts of breads and dips, green salads, oriental salads, Greek salads and decadent desserts to finish off.  I flew with a very satisfied tummy.
We arrived in Rome in the early morning, hopped aboard a local train from the airport and hit the Vatican.  Didn't know it was its own country.

Me outside the old entrance.  It is now the exit.  The Vatican, St. Peters Square, Sistine chapel and St. Peters Basilica are all inside the Vatican in the heart of Rome.  We waited in line for about 1/2 hour then bagged waiting and met up with a tour guide.  Totally worth the extra cash, at least it gave some understanding to what we were looking at.

In the Acorn Courtyard - main piazza.  Me with our very informative guide.  She is a fellow Canadian!!!

          Main entrance in the Vatican Museum - a hall full of Busts.  Overwhelming but very cool!

A view of Rome from a window in the Vatican.

Courtyard with mega tourists and Roman Statues.  Did you know the Vatican has approx 60,000 visitors a day?

Roman statues carved from marble. So mind blowing that someone can create a very detailed, lifelike replica of human and gods.

                                                    I loved how real this foot looked.

                                                    A huge marble bath for parties - all female of course.

                                                            Statue of Artemis Ephesia

Room dedicated to Mary

                                              Very ornate ceilings- art everywhere!

Just a glimpse of some of the Vatican Museum - a museum that sprawls over 7 km of amazing art masterpieces. This part took us a bit over an hour and a half - just inside.  Be prepared to spend a good part of the day here. The Sistine Chapel and St. Peters Basilica are more of this day's highlights.  Did I say overwhelming?  I will post more on this amazing day- I just need to get some posts out of the way...Rome, so far!