The sleeping didn't go so well the second night. Matthew and I were up for hours in the middle of the night having a picnic and when we finally got back to sleep around 4:30am, Tony was up. After not being able to get back to sleep, he made good use of his time by going out for a run. At 8:30 I got up and went around the corner to the local cafe to have a caffelatte and chocolate croissant. It was soooo good! It was fun to watch the server, she was so fast. She would see her regulars walk in the door and pull their shots without being asked. They would drink their coffee at the counter and head back out. We got the kids up and going and caught the bus to Largo argentino. This is an archeologic site where the ruins of the theater of Pompey are (where ceasar was killed). It is also a cat sanctuary. There are 130 kitties that live there and an organization that cares for them, does TNR and medical care. The hospital/shop part of sanctuary wasn't open in the morning, but some of the cats came out of the ruins (people can't go into the ruins) to say hi. A few of the kitties were missing legs. From there we went to the pantheon. Nearly 2000 years old! Then on the walk from there to Piazza Navona we stopped in a grocery store and got bread, cheese, mild and chocolate for a picnic in the piazza. From there we walked to the Tiber, over the bridge by Castel St Angello and headed to the vatican. Thank goodness I bought tickets in advance, the line without tickets was crazy long! I was excited to see the Sistine Chapel (no pictures allowed) but I have to admit, after you walk through all the rooms with frescoes and art everywhere, then walk into the super crowded, stuffy room that is the Sistine Chapel, we were all just ready to go. We saw the outside of St. Peter's Basilica but elected not to wait in the huge line to go inside. Instead, the kids voted to go back to the cat sanctuary where the hospital/adoption area was open. On the way we stopped by the Campo Fiorini - shopping piazza. We got to snuggle lots of kitties and left some money in the gift shop at the cat sanctuary. We had Pizza at Pizza Florida where they sell pizza by the 100 gram weight. Lots of choices - I had potato and mozarella - yummy! From there we went to the Vittorio monument and the kids and I took the glass elevator to the top. Got to see the somewhat cloudy sunset and an amazing view of Rome. We got some gelato and caught a bus back to the apartment and left the kids off while Tony and I checked out some local remains of Roman walls and stocked up on milk at the store.
Theatre where Caesar was killed
Outside of Pantheon
Pantheon
Picnic lunch
Fountain of four rivers in Piazza Navona
St. Peter's Basilica
St. Peter's square
Swiss guard
Shipwreck in the Tiber
Random Church
Pizza! - potato and eggplant
Vittorio monument
gelato!
Macarons
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