Roma

For our 1st anniversary, my husband (kind of) surprised me by booking us a trip to Rome for New Year's Eve.

(by kind of - I mean we talked about it 6 months ago and then around thanksgiving he asked if my passport was up to date)

I never thought we would be able to see as much as we did in Rome - and we followed all of Rick Steve's suggestions and walking tours. We walked the entire city (twice to the Vatican in 1 day) and found it easy to get to all of the tourist sights - once we figured out the street names. We also woke up early every morning and got to the sights when they opened (at least for the Vatican Museum, Borghese Museum, and Colosseum.) In 5 days, my husband and I were able to get to know Rome, see amazing work by famous artists, hold hands while walking around, eat dinner in Trastevere, people watch, talk about our future retirement investments, see the Pope, visit the duty free shops in the airport, get a little lost, hear the words Prada and 40% off in the same sentence, and learn about ancient Roman civilization.

Here are some of the highlights: (in no particular order)

Pantheon at night - we ate dinner in the square on New Year's Eve

Our hotel - Hosianum Palace- which was in a perfect location, extremely clean, non-smoking, had nice bathrooms, and offered an American style breakfast

eating tartufo (a dark chocolate gelato ball with a cherry in the middle) at Tre Scalini in Piazza Navona (I am standing outside because it was only 5 euro to go versus 10 Euro to sit at a table)

Pilgrim's Tour: San Clemente and San Giovanni in Laterano (the 1st Christian church in Rome and by the Holy Stairs - steps of Pontius Pilate's (brought to Rome by Constantine's mother) that Jesus climbed on the day of his death sentence)

Trajan's column and market

The Roman Forum (view from Palatine Hill)

Happy New Year! fireworks over the Colosseum and Forum

Trevi Fountain on our 1st anniversary

The Pope Mobile on New Year's Eve - he gave mass at 6pm and then came outside to the nativity scene in St. Peter's Square. I am not Catholic, but it was still cool to see the Pope and his red Prada shoes.

St. Peter's Square at night

Michelangelo's Pieta

St. Peter's Basilica

The Last Judgement and the Sistine Chapel

The School of Athens by Raphael

Laocoon (in the Vatican Museum) was found in 1506 in the ruins of Nero's Golden House - and inspired Michelangelo

a court yard in Vatican City (see the tiny trees? they are clementine trees and I ate them every morning for breakfast at our hotel - mine were not from the Vatican) What would the Swiss guards do if you picked one?

Trevi Fountain (again) at night

Mouth of Truth - near Circus Maximus and from "Roman Holiday"

Ara Pacis - Alter of Peace (see the tiny hole in the left side of the picture? that was to drain the blood - I don't know what is peaceful about that?)

view from the top of the Spanish Stairs

Borghese Gallery - this was my favorite museum in Rome and it had amazing sculptures by Bernini (father of Baroque) I wasn't allowed to take pictures, but I loved this, this and this.

the cross that gladiators would look at as the entered the Colosseum

Moses by Michelangelo (1515) at St. Peter-in-Chains (Michelangelo wanted to devote his time to this sculpture and not to the Sistine Chapel)
*note* you had to pay 1 euro into a vending machine in order for the spotlight to turn on

Peter's Chains

House of Livia and Augustus at Palatine Hill (the 1st emperor)

Victor Emmanuel Monument - our hotel was 1/4 mile from here

Capital Hill (designed by Michelangelo)

She-Wolf near Capital Hill

on top of Victor Emmanuel Monument or "the wedding cake"

Arch of Constantine (view from the Colosseum) - he legalized Christianity

the Colosseum (above and below)

Trevi Fountain - my #1 favorite thing in Rome

(I made my husband walk be it at least 10 times during our 5 days)

#2 St. Peter's tomb, the Sistine Chapel, and Vatican Museum

#3 Borghese Museum

#4 Colosseum, Forum, Palatine Hill

#5 Gelato, tartufo, pizza, homemade pasta, wine, Bounty bars, clementines, Coke-cola light