Italy: Part 3, Roma!

We took a 3 hour drive down to Rome for 3 days to see the sights. I have to say that Rome is great for the historical sights and Vatican City, but aside from that... ummm, I would rather be in Paris. It was dirty, run-down, over-priced and personally, I just wasn't that excited about it. I have no desire to ever visit Rome, again. Don't get me wrong, I was excited to check it off of my bucket list, but I don't think I will ever go back. The Colosseum was interesting, not as large as I expected, and lots of fun to watch the gladiators outside the colosseum pose for pictures with tourists. We did not partake, they swindle and pickpockets are everywhere, so we kept a close hold on the children and our wallets!
I was blown away by the Sistine Chapel. Michelango's paintings of the Creation and the Last Judgment were pretty jaw-droppingly beautiful. The chapel itself, was nowhere near the size I had imagined, it is pretty small compared to what I had built up in my head. Very few windows, but who needs windows when you can picture Michelangelo spending 4 years painting the inside. Then, unfortunately... we made a big mistake. We followed the crowd when we left the Sistine Chapel (the last major sight at the Vatican Museum) and somehow it spit us back outside to an EXIT. This was not supposed to happen, we were supposed to leave the Sistine Chapel and enter directly into St. Peter's. OOPS! We walked back around to St. Peter's entrance and the line was way too long to stand there in 90 degree weather and wait when we only had a couple of hours to catch our bus back to the hotel. St. Peter's square will have to do!

In front of the Colosseum.

A view of St. Peter's and the square as we were entering.

Don't tell... but Charlie didn't know that we couldn't take pictures inside the Sistine Chapel, so here is one that he took before a guard told him No.

Part of Ancient Roman ruins that didn't have a whole lot of visitors, but it was my favorite spot.