Rome, Italy (Day 2)

After getting a good night's sleep we got started a little late on this day, but the rest was well worth it. We planned to see "ancient Rome" today. Our first stop was the Victor Emmanuel II Monument (a.k.a "The Wedding Cake"). Talk about impressive. Romans do big very well! From the top of the monument you get a great view of ancient Rome (the Roman Forum, the Colosseum, Circus Maximus and Trajan's Markets). We then set out to explore all of these sites. They are all ruins, but it is still cool to imagine what Rome was like about 2,000 years ago!

Rome holds so much history. You are surrounded by these ruins from around A.D. 100 and intermixed amoung them are the most beautiful churches. Each splendily decorated and amazingly beautiful in their own way. We stopped by about 7 amazing churches while we were out exploring. Our first stop was Santa Maria in Cosmedin which is famous for a sewer drain that supposedly bites off the hands of liars. It is called the "Mouth of Truth" and my hand survived its powers. Our favorite church that we stopped at was San Giovianni in Laterno. It is Rome's Basilica and words cannot describe the grandness and beauty of this church. Besides all the artwork in Rome's churches many of the churches hold relics or artifacts from Christ and the saints. San Giovianni held a wood altar that Saint Peter celebrated the eucharist on. The heads of St. Peter and St. Paul are also believed to be contained below the present altar. Brian actually prefered this church over Saint Peter's Basilica. The last church I will mention from our exploring is San Pietro in Vincoli (St. Peter's in chains). This church holds the chains that were used on Peter when he was imprisioned.

By the time we were done exploring our feet were screaming at us. It was time to find some much deserved dinner. The food in Italy is extremely expensive, so we ate a lot of pizza. The pizza there is great. Very thin crust and not nearly as much sauce and cheese that we put on pizza in the US. Another difference in italian pizza is that they do not chop up the toppings. If you order olives on your pizza you get whole olives sitting on top of your pizza.