Welcome to the last day of 2015! What a year it's been! And we closed out the year with our last full day in Rome. It started off with me and the kids checking off YET ANOTHER new country... Vatican City! First stop, and in retrospect, it should have been the last stop, was the Vatican Musuems. I could have spent ALL day there, but not with two very bored kiddos. Uh uh. No way. But when in Rome, one must see the Sistine Chapel!
We've never done audioguides for the kids, but they actually had an English version of a children's audioguide. Grant, age 6 was probably still too young for it. Natalie (age 8) seemed to enjoy it though! I like audioguides, particularly for art museums because otherwise, I'm only seeing a part of the story.
We all got this really funny idea to touch the top of St. Peter's from the courtyard of the Vatican Museums.
And of course, then Grant had to do it.
And Sassy McSassalot had to do it.
And not wanting to be left out, Todd had to do it too.
One of the more famous paintings is Raphael's Transfiguration. It's in a very dark room and you can't use a flash so pardon the darkness of this picture and the next.
Grant, pondering the works of Raphael, part 2.
I love the story of Saint Peter, who was crucified for pushing his religious agenda, but requested to be crucified upside down because he didn't feel he deserved to die the same way Jesus did. This painting is by Guido Reni.
The kids loved this mummy.
We all really loved Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden by Wenzel Peter. The kids loved pointing out the different kinds of animals they saw. Of course, the scientist in me is thinking... this isn't even a small fraction of all of the actual animals on earth!
The Gallery of Maps. OH. MY. WORD. I found this to be more impressive than the Sistine Chapel! It's an enormously long corridor with the most beautiful ceiling I have seen this side of St. Paul's in London. And there are MAPS aligning both walls! Did you hear me? MAPS!
Me and a cool map! Hooray for Geography! Boo for people photobombing my picture!
This is absolutely hysterical. I have no idea if it's real or not!
The staircase when you leave the Vatican Museums is insane. It's a replica of the original Bramante staircase that I think is over in some private quarters of the Vatican. But it's beautiful. It looks like a snail to me.
Outside in the Piazza di San Pietro, we were excited to see beautiful St. Peter's. But when we went to try to go inside, we got told that it was already closed for the day. And we are leaving for home tomorrow. So I missed my supposed one and only chance at seeing the great St. Peter's! What!? I was so, so, so, so disappointed.
Panoramic of St. Peters Square.
The Pope's living quarters. He sometime makes speeches from the window that is second from the right on the top floor. I kept hoping he'd come out to say hello, which would totally make up for the fact that I didn't get to walk through the Holy Door and go into St. Peter's. But nope. He didn't.
Since we couldn't get into St. Peter's, we decided to go over to the Castel Sant'Angelo. It's a 2nd century fortress that has a long walkway all the way to St. Peter's. Former Pope's would use Castel Sant'Angelo in times of trouble. Hadrian had it built as a mausoleum, but it has since become a fortress and now a museum. You can see the angel on the top, from which the castle gets its name. It was originally told that the Archangel Michael himself appeared to rid the city of a plague in the 6th century, hence the name the Castel Sant'Angelo.
We immediately went to the top of the Castle to check out the views. Hey, wasn't I just there!? We got a nice view of the Terrace of the Chariots. You can see tiny people on the top of it, showing just how massive the structure is.
Me and my babies on the top of the Castel Sant'Angelo, New Year's Eve 2015.
Once we started to walk down, we realized of course, that it was New Year's Eve and was snack time/ happy hour, which had to be done prior to going back to the apartment for a quick nap so the kids could make it to midnight. On our way to the little restaurant that is at the Castle, Grant was playing a game of hide and seek with this pigeon! He thought it was the funniest thing! He would see the pigeon and then the pigeon would go behind that column, only to pop out on the other side of the column, where he would find Grant waiting for him. And the whole game would begin again. Over and over and over!
Somehow, some people were leaving this seat and we managed to snag it. BEST seat in the house! Looking over Vatican City and St. Peter's.
I mean, you can't go to Vatican City and get two of the most inappropriate souvenirs EVER, right!?! A Pope shot glass and a "Popener!"
Now THAT is a fine way to end 2015.
After a decent nap (maybe an hour and a half?), we went out to a late-ish dinner. Me and my little man sat close to the heater!
Additionally, wine and Limoncello will help keep you warm!
From there, we decided to head over to find a spot on one of the Tiber's many bridges to ring in the New Year and watch the many firework displays that Rome has going on. We passed the Castel Sant'Angelo (lit up, above) and went to the bridge in front of the Palace of Justice to celebrate New Year's.
We found our spot, got our New Year's drinks and got this party started!
I love this picture. It shows their personalities perfectly. The Palace of Justice is in the background. Also, please note our bar set up on the bridge wall to the right. This sort of thing is not at all frowned upon in Rome.
Partying on the bridge, as fireworks begin to go off above the Palace of Justice.
More New Year's Eve fireworks.
The clock had just struck midnight and everyone was celebrating. Some American students studying in Rome were next to us on the bridge, and they took our picture as the fireworks were going off. We kept saying, "Remember that New Year's we spent on the bridge in Rome!?" What a blast! I'm sure the kids won't remember all of this one day (especially Grant) but I know I certainly will! Ciao, Rome! Until next time!
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