Stop 2: Rome

After a rather pleasant and largely uneventful train ride... Ok, that's not quite true. Lesson learned: figure out the right button to choose on the Italian train website to ensure that you get two seats next to each other rather than across a table from each other. It's a little awkward to end up sitting next to a stranger while trying to feed your baby... No, really, it wasn't that bad. The 3.5-hour train ride was pretty comfortable, especially once we found two seats next to each other that were not occupied.

So, after a reasonably decent train ride, we arrived in Rome around noon. We grabbed a quick sandwich in the train station and walked the 10-minutes to our bed and breakfast (which we really liked, by the way, so if you're ever headed to Rome, let us know; we have a recommendation :). We then booked it to the Vatican to get there in time to visit the museum and St. Peter's before closing. It was raining, though, and we arrived soaked. Oh well, Michelangelo's Pantheon-inspired dome was grand just the same:

We enjoyed the museum, especially the Sistine Chapel, where the guards (who were usually there shushing people) oohed and aahhed over Oliver, telling me that he was their youngest visitor of the day and greatly resembled one of the colleagues - some guy named Luigi. So, "Luigi Junior" and I had fun making new friends while Chris took in the glory of that sacred place. We then were let into St. Peter's through a side entrance from the Sistine Chapel by another guard who had a daughter named Sarah who was about the same age as Oliver. Traveling through Europe with a 7-month old may not be ideal, but it does open some doors!

St. Peter's was beautiful:

And Piazzo San Pietro is gorgeous at night:

After that, we walked all the way down the Via del Corso from Piazzo del Populo:

Past the Victor Emmanuel Monument to the Colosseum:

Where we returned and began our day the following morning:

Oliver seemed to particularly enjoy it:

From there, we walked through the ruins on Palatine Hill:

And then toured the Forum:

Beginning with the Arch of Titus:

Saw the entry to the Temple of Antoninus Pius and Faustina (which now acts as the entrance to a church):

The only three remaining columns of Caligula's Palace:

The Temple of Saturn:

And other beautiful, ancient stonework:

And we couldn't help but appreciate the only clear skies we had the whole trip:

From there, we walked to the Pantheon, where I enjoyed our last few minutes outside (with the dirty pigeons) before the weather turned bad again:

And despite the intermittent rain, we walked the colorful Trastevere neighborhood after the Pantheon. It had a gritty, village quality, making it fun to photograph:

Our walk of the neighborhood ended in the Piazza Santa Maria, where we sat on the steps and enjoyed some wine outside a nearby osteria:

Though our last evening in Rome was wonderful - great pizza, fantastic coffee gelato, beautiful sights - we were sadly hindered from taking pictures by pretty heavy rain. Alas, that leaves us with only one decent picture from our walk, taken at the Piazza Navona where they had some major lighting set up (I think they were trying to film something there but had paused because of the rain):

It was quite a whirlwind; three days would have been better. But I can definitely say that going in January made every site move very quickly, allowing us to be more efficient and make it down to Naples to visit my brother Rhys. All in all, a pleasant experience!