Day 15 - Rome, Italy - June 25th

Today was a busy but exciting day! We started pretty early. We got in line for the Vatican museum at 7:50 a.m. They let groups go in at 8:00. Doors open at 9:00 for the general public, so it was not crowded at all for us. It also helped that the pope was speaking at 10:00 in St. Peter’s square, so everyone was there instead of at the museum. We spent just over 2 hours in the museum and also the Sistine chapel. It was very beautiful. What I liked most about the museum was the ceilings. We then went to St. Peter’s square and watched the pope speak for about 15 minutes. It was packed with people! The only down side it that the church was closed because of this, so Megan wasn’t able to go inside. We then had a little lunch break and Megan and I had pizza. Then we went to the Colosseum and Roman forum. The colosseum is an amazing structure. I learned today that it only took 8 years to build it and 65% of it is the original structure. Megan was emotional seeing it and being inside it. It is quite awe inspiring especially because of all the history behind it. And the roman forum is just cool to walk through and see all the ruins and know that we are walking in the midst of the center of Rome 2,000 years ago. We then had a 2 hour break at the hotel. I slept for an hour, then we walked another 3 hours through the city. We saw the Pantheon which is one of my favorite churches, and a cool church to St. Matthew. We walked through lots of alleys and squares and it was wonderful. Megan and I had more pizza and gelato for dinner. We got back to the hotel around 8:00 p.m. Tomorrow we leave for the airport in the morning and head back to the states!