Roman Holiday

Although we are not Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, we still had a great Roman holiday of our own.
Disclaimer: This post is really long and contains lots of pictures

 Our trip started out right, with first class seats! (Brian Regan fans will be excited to know that we were even given essentials kits!)
Once we arrived, we stayed in a beautiful hotel right in the center of the city.

The TV says, "Hello Matthew Phillippi.  We hope you enjoy your stay with us"

View from our hotel window.

The location actually worked out perfectly, because we walked EVERYWHERE.  We probably saw every street in the city.   All that walking was a good thing though because the other thing we did was EAT.  Pizza and gelato every day!

For one city there is really a lot to see.  We saw the Coliseum

And the Roman forum

Matt is standing underneath to give you an idea of how big it is

Recently discovered frescoes in the home of Emperor Augustus

We spent a day going to St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museum.

Here are some pictures from the Basilica

View of the Basilica we saw while walking there

Michelangelo's Pieta

There is a lot to see in the museum, even the areas between the exhibits are impressive.  Check out the ceilings when you're just walking down the hall 

                         
They have lots of Egyptian artifacts

And Greek and Roman antiquities

And works from the Renaissance masters

Raphael's School of Athens

In the Sistine Chapel, you're not allowed to take any pictures, but Matt snuck one.

Here's our forbidden photo :)

While walking around the city we saw a lot of other things.

Biggest tub of Nutella ever.

The Pantheon

  

Spanish Steps

A gladiator almost killed Matt!

But don't worry, I saved him

The capital

Trevi Fountain

 It was a great trip, and we were pretty worn out by the time we came home.

 We had a pretty long layover in Chicago on the way back, so Matt had to take a little nap.
And now it's nice to be home :)