Rome

We had another early morning driving to Rome. Lee found a place to park and some of us headed to the Colosseum to get in line for our timed entry. This entrance you see below, was not the correct one. Ugh. 

Thankfully we found the right one and got in on time!

The Colosseum is quite a site. So much tragedy and awful history though, even from the get go with slaves building it! So horrible.

Very interesting to see though!

We walked by the Roman Forum. We took the wrong way and when we saw the line to go the right way we decided to head on to the next thing. Oh, and we saw some cops chasing a guy with a backpack.

We walked over to a place that my cousin's wife recommended to get suits in Rome. Then we hit up a couple other stores to find a suit for Clark for his wedding.  Lee got a really cool suit at the first place. We went back after lunch to Dan John (a suit store) and bought Clark's suit. While we were walking by that afternoon, the same lady that sold Lee his suit was able to get it altered right away, so that was nice!  We were thinking we'd have to go back the next day. Thankfully this was only about a 15 minute walk from the Colosseum. 

So pretty here!

We ate lunch at a place my mom and I ate at 3 years ago when we were in Rome, Ciuri Ciuri. I remember their lasagna being really yummy. Of course they didn't have that day, or had just ran out. Doh. Ah well. We picked some other things to eat. It was really interesting...I asked the server lady about some different kinds of pasta like rotini or fettuccine, and she had no clue what I was talking about. So weird. 

Window shopping!

Fancy gelato place!  Another good reason to get gelato--"free" bathrooms. The restroom situation in Europe and other countries is tricky. So much easier in the USA to find a free restroom. 

I tried to convice Cal to get a suit, but he said he didn't want one. I should just insisited. Clark with his wedding suit and Lee with his new suit!

That evening we went to the Rome Temple Visitors' Center. I'm glad we went there before the temple (coming up tomorrow morning). It was fun hearing about the temple and the symbolism, like how it's shaped like an olive leaf. We had a tour from a great sister missionary from the USA.  We also met a missionary couple from Buena Vista, the stake just south of us. So fun!

The sister who gave us the tour.

Walking around the temple! 

Haha, loved seeing the robot cutting the grass. 

I'm not sure where there are at, but there are some olive trees nearby. They were on the temple site, but were moved.  They harvest the olives and extract the oil and use that oil in the initiatory.

There is a mall about 5 minutes from the temple. We walked around and went to the McDonald's for dinner. Pretty funny. See the contruction worker on the left?  He is standing by a beach towel that you can buy for 4 Euros with the purchase of certain meals. We bought two and are giving them to Sheldon and Ciera for Christmas. 

McDonald's was really buy. The menu was pretty funny. And you could buy alcohol! 

Temptations & Sauces....hahaha. 

We found a table!  And our food took forever. They had it made but didn't bring it out to us even though they were supposed to. We had to talk to them. 

It's legit when the shoes are official. 

And when you can eat outside at their coutyard. Though a lot of people were smoking here, so we decided to stay inside. 

Elden's Fanta collection is growing! We stayed at Noba Hotel while in Rome. We had to find street parking. The first night we found some okay. Looks like parking was free overnight, so that was good. And we never were towed or had a ticket put under a windshield wiper. 

Fanta!!!

Day 2 in Rome!  Our hotel rooms had kitchenettes in them. We had breakfast and headed out to the temple for baptisms. We were supposed to be there at 8:30am and were a little late.  And then they didn't come till almost 9:00am to get us as the doors were locked. 

We then drove into Rome. We parked at a parking garage--the same one as yesterday--and headed out. We were worried about entering the restricted driving zones and watched a lot of YouTube videos about it. But they are pretty well marked. 

Trevi Fountain!  So beautiful and insanely packed. Some guards or whoever were only letting in a certain amount of people at a time and they wouldn't let you linger either. Best to get there probably at 6am! It was hot too!

Haha, candy pizza. 

The Pantheon! Another incredible building. We just took pictures from the outside and didn't go in. 

Sheldon said to get some of these chocolate star cookies, Pan di Stelle and have them with milk. 

We then headed to Piazza del Campidoglio, which was created by Michelangelo in 1538. We saw many works by Michelangelo. Knowing mortality rates weren't that great I wondered how long he lived. 88 years!  That's pretty good for today and especially for back then! 

Here we are at the Piazza del Campidoglio!  Sadly the surrounding buildings were undergoing contruction, so it wasn't pretty around it. The star shape is also mimicked in the Rome Temple entryway. 

While heading that direction we found a really neat over look of the city. A happy accident. Also, at one point we saw the Moses statue, but I can't find any pictures. Hmm... It was yesterday at the church, St. Peter in Chains. 

The plaza again. 

We rented electric scooters to get to the Vatican. Bad idea!  Too many cobblestone roads in Rome. But we got there very quickly. We decided to just go into St. Peter's Basilica and the courtyard, skipping the Vatican Museum.

Another country visited!

You know....a tree in a pot....

Michelangelo's Pietà. I wasn't sure if we'd get to see it, or if you had to pay, but you didn't.  

We stopped at the post office too and mailed a couple of post cards!

After we got the car we headed back to the mall by the temple, which was only about 10-15 minutes from our hotel. So weird seeing animals at the airport!  One dog did its business in the hallway at the mall and the owners were cleaning it up. So gross! 

I didn't buy these shoes, but I did get some!!!

We ate a very late dinner at a fun restaurant right by our hotel. 

The kids loved the burgers there.  This is the owner. It was really funny...he wanted to bring out food seperately. Like he wanted to bring the french fries out at a different time than the burgers. He thought that was so weird and thought I didn't understand the menu. I totally understood--that's why I said to not bring them out at different times.  

Thanks Rome!  You wore us out!