Rome

Two more cities to go on the Eurotrip blog saga...and the first of those is Rome.

Amy departed for the States at the end of our time in Venice, which left Emma, Christina, and I to conquer the eternal city. We spent six nights in Rome, which we thought was too many.

Until the toilet exploded. 

That's right.

After a SEVEN HOUR TRAIN RIDE THROUGH ITALY WITH NO AIR CONDITIONING--sorry, I'll stop yelling--we got to the apartment in which we thought we'd be spending our whole week.

Within the next 24 hours, the electricity had continuously flickered on and off (we'd had to cook dinner when the power was ON), the shower hadn't drained, the air conditioner continually got weaker, and--on our first morning in Roma--the toilet erupted all over the entire apartment.

I wish I was being dramatic, but that's truly how it was.

So, as the toilet water around us receded, we booked a room at a BnB. Our new place ended up being in a much nicer part of town--and it was fully operational!
(And it was run by someone named Paolo...so it was basically what dreams are made of.) 

We did end up salvaging that evening by going to dinner at the Spanish Steps with all the other tourists in Rome.

The next day, we donned our dresses and headed to the Vatican Museum.

It had a lot of intriguing ceilings, which were much nicer to look at than the thousands of people squeezing in on every side.

The Vatican route did take us through the Sistine Chapel, which was the only room in which you couldn't take pictures. It was truly breathtaking. The three of us grazed our fingertips on the wall so we could say we've touched a Michelangelo.

Magically, the crowds thinned out after that.

The next day was dedicated to the Coliseum (or Colosseum, however you feel it should be spelled) and the Roman Forum. 

It was all quite old and stony.

The day after that started with some gaping at St. Peter's basilica.

After which we walked to the Pantheon.

Our walk took us past Castel Sant'Angelo.

Did you know that Raphael was buried in the Pantheon?

Now you know as much about the Pantheon as I do!

I took a taxi home at that point for some rest while the girls continued their day of sightseeing.

The NEXT day (Rome had a lot of "next day"s) was our last, so we spent the morning getting to the Trevi Fountain...which had no water under it, thanks to construction.

Stomach issues sent me home til dinnertime, but when dinnertime came, I was ready for a good trek around the city.

We walked back by St. Peter's.

Over a bridge.

Past an old car.

And we found Emma's!

After dinner, we went to a festival by the river.

Then we made our way back.

We left Rome with full hearts and full bellies.

(Eating a full kilogram of gelato in one night will do that to you.)