Today, we went to St. Peter's Basilica.
It is the Church in Vatican City. Vatican City is cool because they consider it their own country, so we technically got to visit another country today!
It was completed in 1626. It is the largest church in the world, and is regarded as one of the holiest Catholic shrines.
The pope presides at a number of church services here throughout the year.
There is an underground chapel which is supposedly where Saint Peter is buried.
There a number of other tombs of popes and important people.
People come from all around to rub the foot of this statue. They have rubbed it so much that his right foot no longer has any toes and it looks like a boot instead of a foot.
This building is where they send the smoke signal when a new pope has been chosen. If black smoke emerges, the cardinals have not come to an agreement. If the smoke is white, the new pope has been chosen.
Saint Peter's Basilica was amazing - it's so different than the type of buildings and worshipping we are used to in our religion. A little gawdy to be honest!
Our favorite stories from this visit:
Our cute little guide had such a thick accent and she was explaining a painting about the pope's virtues. Somehow all we could hear her say was the pope's bitches. And the painting matched our interpretation more than hers!😆
Our guide warned us about pickpockets. She just happened to catch a little group of them and started going a little crazy telling everyone "pickpocket, pickpocket!"
Karalee went straight into crime scene mode and had her eyes on the pickpockets within minutes. It was hilarious! It was truly the best part of her day!
We grabbed some lunch, and of course, gelato, and headed off to the next part of our adventure!
Our next stop was the Altar of the Fatherland. The buildings were incredible. It is a monument in Rome built in honor of Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of Italy. It celebrates the magnificence of Rome and commemorates the unification of Italy into a single nation.
The building serves as a reminder of Rome's greatness - there are 196 marble steps in front. At the top is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which is topped by the Statue of the Goddess of Rome. The view from the top is breathtaking!
We took a really cool elevator to the top (yes, we even paid to do it), to see an incredible view of Rome and The Forum. I'm glad we did it because we did not have enough time to walk through The Forum. There was just too much to see!
Some other fascinating things about Rome is that it is layer upon layer of cities. Archaeologists are constantly finding buried buildings and structures from centuries ago!
The Roman Forum is a rectangular forum surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. It was originally a marketplace, or the town center.
Then the thing we were most excited about . . . The Colosseum!
There really aren't words to describe this amphitheater.
We had little earpieces in to listen to a guided tour while we walked and the more we listened, the more I realized that this place was a blood bath.
The architecture, ingenuity, complex stage machinery, and working parts were mind blowing, but realizing what took place there made me a little sick to my stomach.
It could seat almost 50,000 spectators, and was the location for thousands of combats between gladiators, animals, gruesome executions of prisoners and criminals, and mock naval fights.
We did not take the underground tour specifically, but we could see the network of tunnels and chambers where gladiators, animals, and prisoners were kept before entering the arena. It is believed that as many as 400,000 people were killed in the Colosseum, and millions of animals were killed. It is has even been said that the hunts at the Colosseum are part of the reason some of the species are extinct in nearby regions.
Lions, tigers, wolves, bears, hippos, leopards, wild boars, elephants, hyenas, buffalo, crocodiles, ostriches, and even giraffes were all seen at the Colosseum at some point.
We asked how in the world they got the animals here - they would bring them down the Tiber River on ships from North Africa. Many died during transit.
This whole experience was incredible. Not a place Rod and I ever thought we'd have the chance to see! It was HOT though!
While we were walking all day, Karalee's pants started to get a small hole in them. We had our pasta making class next - but the longer we walked, the bigger the hole got! She was such a great sport, but we ended up having to go shopping for a new outfit for her!
While our pasta cooked, we made Tiramisu for dessert!
Dinner was delicious!
We wanted to see the Trevino Fountain at night, so we walked back through the square, and eventually caught a taxi back to the hotel. The taxi driver was a shady little butt - he screwed us big time on our fare! We walked SO much today!
