Rome Part II

Easter Mass

Since I started planning our Italy trip months in advance, I was able to request tickets to Easter Mass with the Pope! When I requested them, I wasn't even sure we would be in Rome for Easter, but receiving confirmation that we would have them, helped me plan out when to go.

So the next morning was Easter Sunday and we spent it at the Vatican....an exciting change from my usual Easter spent dying eggs and eating Cadbury chocolate. While we were super excited about the opportunity we had to be there, I have to admit, we found the mass interesting for about the first 30 minutes, and then the next hour and a half drug on- maybe it was because we had spent hours there the day before...or maybe we just aren't cultured enough haha. Kirsten wanted to leave and I felt torn because I wanted to wait til the end in case the Pope drove around the crowd, but if he didn't, I would have wasted our time. Fortunately, he did! And we purposely sat near a barricade (which is where the US Embassy we picked up the tickets from, recommended) so we were able to see him fairly close up!

The Vatican was awesome to see, but between spending most of the day touring it Saturday and sitting at it for part of the day Sunday, by the time we were done, we were definitely ready to move on to other things, so that's exactly what we did; we walked around the entire city and got to see so many cool sights!

Getting up early always calls for McDonald's breakfast...a great way to start off our Easter 

This guy climbed up in the middle of the mass and held up a big sign...I'm not sure what it said,
but I do know the police weren't very happy about him being up there

Forum of Augustus

The Colosseum

Needless to say, the Colosseum was incredible. As I looked out into the center of the Colosseum, I couldn't believe I was standing in the same spot people stood to watch men fight until death! And thousands of years ago! How crazy is that?! There were signs of information posted around and one said the arena would sometimes get filled with water and two ships would come in to battle each other. That was even crazier to me! 

I kept thinking of the movie Gladiator (which I've never even seen haha), and my little brother Caysen because he would have loved it. I wish he could have been there, but we went to the gift shop and got him a few souvenirs...He wasn't particularly thrilled with the book we got him because apparently he "had it in his classroom", but he did like the ancient coins haha. 

We were pretending to be gladiators...apparently we're not very good at it
because Kirsten looks like she's swing dancing and I don't look very dead haha

The Pantheon

Lindt Chocolate Cafe

Spanish Steps

Rome LDS Temple

Kirsten really wanted to see the temple (we did too, but it was an hour away and after a long day of sight-seeing that sounded about an hour too far haha). But, I am so glad we went! Even though it was under construction, and we couldn't get in past the gates, and it was dark, and my pictures came out kinda blurry, it was so worth it! Looking back, I am surprised I wasn't dead set on going because I really love seeing temples outside of the US- I love seeing temples in America as well, obviously, but it's just especially exciting to see them in foreign places- like Rome! Home of the Catholic church! I love to see the church grow!

The Food

Yes, the food in Rome deserves its own category thanks to one pizza place- Habemus Pizza. They had thee best pizza I have had in my entire life, no exaggeration! Just thinking about it is making my mouth water. 

There was a long line for it, which is what drew us to it in the first place, but we debated whether or not we had time to get it before our Vatican tour. I am so glad we decided to wait because their caprese pizza was the best thing I ate in Italy! We got it to go and walked up the street, in the pouring rain, to meet up with our tour group. We quickly ate, trying to savor every bite, before we started walking to the Vatican...If only they would open one in America!

Gelato was my next love. At one point, we went to three Gelato shops in a row...Rusty got gelato from a store near the Trevi fountain, went to the second place still eating the gelato from the first place, and then went to the third place, still eating gelato from the second place. It was crazy, but it explains how good the gelato was.

Well there you have it! A very quick overview of our vacay to Italy. Our trip was so much fun and something I will never forget! And, it allowed me to check more things off my bucket list!  

Until next time Italy...Ciao!