Day 11: Vatican City

Like the Colosseum, Vatican City is one place not to miss if you're ever in Rome. The tiny sovereign independent state is home to Saint Peter's Square and Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, and the Vatican Museums. Did you know that the Vatican Museums is the largest museum complex in the world with over 1400 rooms?? We sure didn't. Needless to say, we were not able to see the whole thing. Everything was fascinating though, and it was surreal just being there.

Day 10: Roma, Italia

You didn't think we were going to come all this way just to take pictures outside the Colosseum, did you? Nope. We came back early the next morning and shelled our the extra five euros for a tour that we didn't regret of this architectural wonder. I loved learning all these little facts about the amphitheater that made being there that much more meaningful. Like how the gladiators did not in reality fight to the death. Like how the original marble of the Colosseum was taken for the construction of the Vatican and other churches. And like how mock naval battles took place here by removing the wooden stage and filling the amphitheater with water. Who knew?

The hottest day of our trip so far! Tired, hot, and thirsty...

MUJI store in Roma!

The beautiful Pantheon

And of course, more Italian food for dinner! Yummy pesto pasta and raviolis.

Last, but not least, the famous Trevi fountain surrounded by half a million tourists. 

Day 9: Venice/Rome

We spent the morning of our ninth day in Europe just walking the streets of Venice before catching our next train to Rome. 

 This is how people cross the "streets" in this fun city. Unfortunately, there is a fee to cross.

 One last meal before leaving "The City of Love"!

 The sun was already starting to go down when we arrived in Rome. After checking into our hotel and figuring out where we were on the map, we wandered over to the Colosseum to see if it was still open. It wasn't, so we took pictures.

We found what was left of the Circus Maximus, a massive, ancient Roman chariot racing stadium.

 More clam spaghetti for dinner! Can you tell we love clam spaghetti?! (:

Day 8: Venezia, Italia

Venice was amazing. The real thing obviously blew The Venetian in Las Vegas out of the water.

As soon as we got off the train in Venice, we wanted to get to our hotel to drop off our bags. We honestly walked up and down the same street no less than ten times trying to find the darn hotel. Finally, Robby noticed a piece of paper taped to the wall with the name of our hotel on it pointing down this narrow, narrow alley. The alley couldn't have been more than two feet wide! Hooray for travelling on a budget!

Our home teacher, Colton, served in the Rome, Italy mission and was in Venice for part of his mission. He told us we had to eat at this pizzeria called Antico Panificio. We found it and ate dinner there that night. Funny thing was that the waitress working there was Chinese. She spoke Italian and Mandarin, but no English. Obviously, not knowing any Italian, we attempted to order in English. She was having such a hard time understanding us that I finally decided to give Mandarin a twirl. Who knew Mandarin would come in so handy in Venice?

The pizzas were great and it was so fun to eat out on the sidewalk.

Being in St. Mark's Square was so neat because some of our favorite movies like The Italian Job and The Tourist were filmed there.