Day 23 & 24: Roma

Yeah, this is a combo post, two days in one, but it gets difficult to fit in the writing sometimes.

Roma is Brooke's parents' last city, and we saved the hottest for last. It's been about 90 degrees both days and there's no relief via swimming around here. Instead we dart inside every church and museum we find to cool off, even if just to go to the gift shop.

We've basically been walking most of Rome. It's got a big European city feel, but it's not that spread out (at least the sites aren't). It's about a 30 minute walk from the Vatican to the Coliseum, and you can pass by a hundred different sites on the way. It seems every corner has something 2000 years old on it.

If you can dodge the Vespas and Smart cars and reach whatever old thing you've found, the next trick is looking for plaques and guidebooks to tell you what it is and why it's important. Sometimes you can't believe something so old, big, etc. is just another shop or gov't building that is not considered noteworthy. The density of sites has encouraged our wandering around the city without a set plan on what we're looking for (which is fun), but it has been exhausting.

The churches are starting to all look the same, with the exception of St. Peter's (huge!) and St. Maria's (has part of the manger). We also got to see the tomb of Pope John Paul II below St. Peter's, which had a weird way of connecting the long history of St. Peter's and the Catholic church to our recent history. It's hard to describe, I guess.

In two days we've pretty much hit all the major spots (Vatican, Coliseum, Pantheon, Spanish Stairs, Trevi Fountain, and a bunch we haven't figured out yet) but we're saving the actual tour of the coliseum and Vatican museum until Brooke's parent's leave, since the activities are time consuming and they've already done it. Tomorrow's plan is to say goodbye to Brooke's parents, switch hotels (the 4 star treatment has come to an end...), then finish up Rome site seeing while dodging the heat. We'll see how we do.

PS - Thanks to Brooke's parents for everything!