Italy - Day 4

 On Tuesday morning of our trip, we woke early.  We had an appt. for a Scavi Tour at 930a and had to be there at 915a.  When Kevin called the tour office to find out where we were going, the guy simply said, "Go left."  We decided to take the kids to the gluten free cafe we had been going to.

Looking back we probably didn't have time to do this since we didn't know where we were actually going for the tour.  We tried a couple of places before we finally found it.  We actually got to get up close to some swiss guards.  They directed us, and we were on our way.  The problem was that when we got there, they said we were late.  We got there at exactly 915a.  The tour said our spot was 930a and had to be there 15 minutes ahead of time.  They apparently made our spot 915a, so we were late not being there at 9a.  It's whatever.  I still have the email confirmation stating our tickets were for 930a.  We felt bad because the tour guide said she would have to rush now because the other group of 930a would be starting soon.  There was one other lady in our group, so that wasn't fair to her.

Marley wasn't feeling well this particular morning and decided to sit on the street IN THE VATICAN while we waited for our tour guide.  She came out and immediately asked Marz if she was ok.  Marley said she was just sitting, and the guide told her, "it's not possible."  That's Marz, already in trouble.  She got in trouble for climbing a tree at the Grand Canyon too.  Moving on.  We started the tour.

That first pic is where Marz sat.  The second one says the tomb of St. Peter.  We weren't allowed to take pics of the actual tour.  It was down in the Necropolis.

The tour guide warned people of that it might feel claustrophobic.  I didn't really pay attention to how far underground we were, but even I felt a little enclosed.  This was not good for Marz.  She was having real trouble, and the tour guide told her certain places she could sit, and she wasn't supposed to sit there either, but the guide took pity, probably because Marz looked green.  We slowly climbed as the tour went on, but it was stayed pretty close quarters for most of it.  At one point, the guide was telling how exact replicas of what people looked like were made to put on their tombs.  The guide asked Marz her name again, and then introduced her to the sculpture of the lady whose tomb it was by name.  I don't think Marley was impressed at this point.  Everyone knew how important this tour was to me though, so they all stuck it out.  Apparently Klyn was having trouble too.  She said as long as Marley was making it, she could too, or that's what she told herself.  Poor kids.  I felt awful hearing all this afterwards.  The tour spits you out to the Popes' burial place and then to St. Peter's Basilica.  

St. Teresa of Avila (Carmelites!)

I think this was a statue of St. Jerome.  He wasn't actually buried there.

THE Pieta

The tomb of Pope Benedict XVI

While we were walking around, we noticed confessions taking place.  I thought how cool it would be to make confession in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, so we went.  The others walked around while Kevin, Marley, and I waited in line.  It wasn't earth shattering, but the place made it really special.  I don't think I got a pic of Pope St. John Paul II's burial place.  There are so many pics, so I only picked out a few good ones to give you the feel of the place.

After this we went back to the AirBNB for a little bit and had lunch I think.  We headed out to explore some more with our plan of The Colosseum, The Cat Sanctuary, and Hard Rock Cafe.  We got another Uber.  They were so convenient.  It dropped us at the Colosseum.  I had tried to get tickets to the underground tour of the Colosseum, but they were sold out.  Most people said the normal run-of-the-mill your wasn't worth the money.  We listened, and I don't know if we should have.  We should've still toured I think.  

We were trying to get pic of just the two of us, and Marz walked right into it.  I told her that's the story of our life!  

Next we went to the Cat Sanctuary.  This sanctuary is actually the ruins from where Julius Caesar kills Brutus.  The cats have taken it over.  There's a metal walkway down into the ruins, but you have to stay on the walkway.  There's an inner part of the building where the cats can go and the souvenir shop is located.  Only three people can go in at a time, so I put stuff to the side that I wanted Kevin to buy.  All the money from the souvenir shop goes to take care of the cats.  They are brought off the street, spayed and neutered, given medicine if needed, and let go.  Most cats stay in the ruins because they have access through the cat door for shelter, and they're fed, but they are free to Rome roam.  In case you're interested, you can also adopt a cat from Rome and send monthly money to care for it.  Here's the website.  

I didn't get any pics of the stairs going down into the shelter.  I'm sure someone else did.  

On our way to Hard Rock, we went to the Trevi Fountain and found the glass store that someone had told me and Kevin about a while ago.  This guy goes to our church and is a pilot that flies to Rome often.  He told us about a place called Murano Glass that is popular in Rome.  We had it on our list of things to do, but we forgot about it.  While walking to the Trevi Fountain, we happened upon it.  It was so great!

These chess pieces of glass are the "Catholics" vs. the "Jews."  

They had some cool sites while walking from one place to another.  I liked these stairs.

The Trevi Fountain!

We didn't take any pics of the Hard Rock.  We were just there to get the pilsner glasses that Kevin collects.  He has a few from different places and wanted to add Rome.  Unfortunately they were out of pilsners, so he had to settle for a different glass and some shot glasses.  We ubered out of here and tried to find a place for dinner.  We decided on a place we had seen the night before.  Rory looked it up and sent it to us as we were looking at it to.  It was meant to be, Papa Rex.

We didn't call for a reservation, but the guy at the front spoke English well and welcomed us in.  We felt very comfortable.  Rory got lasagna, of course.  Klyn went with a pork something (I forget the name).  Logan got lobster linguine, Kevin got steak and potatoes, and Marz and I got pizzas.  We got another bottle of white and red which was becoming our norm apparently.  This place had the BEST bottled water.  It was so good.  It might have been that all the water had been shady up to this point making it so good, we'll never know.  We asked for lemon wedges, and the guy went and cut them up himself.  He got busy with a huge party that came in, but we did notice that he was speaking italian to them and then he sat some people behind us, and he spoke spanish to them!  Moving on...

The dessert at this place was really good.  Logan and Kevin got cheesecake.  Apparently the cheesecakes in Rome are AWESOME.  It's a texture thing.  The tiramisu was good too.

Logan was a little liquidy after this dinner too.

Here's the video.