What a place to end our amazing tour...Rome, Italy! It was a long day starting with an early wake up call in Trieste to catch a 7am train down to Rome. The train ride was about 5 hours so it allowed for the team to get in a good nap and rest before our sprint through Rome.
Once we checked into our hotel and got a tasty lunch in us, we departed our hotel with the first stop being Vatican City. Vatican City is an independent city-state enclaved within Rome Italy. With an area of 110 acres and a population of 1,000, it is the smallest sovereign state in the world by both area and population. The Bishop of Rome and head of the Roman Catholic Church (a.k.a. the Pope) rules Vatican City.
Once you enter through the walls and into St. Peter's Square, you are immediately struck by the beauty and vastness of the location. With our tight schedule for the day, the girls had just about a half hour to explore the area and take it all in. Some of the main attractions which catch the eye are St. Peter's Basilica, an ancient Egyptian obelisk which was erected at the current site in 1586, a granite fountain constructed by Bernini in 1675, and all the large columns donned with various statues encircling the area. Fun Fact: St. Peter's Basilica is the largest church ever constructed.
After exploring Vatican City, we got back on the bus and were dropped off near the Colosseum which is where the group started the rest of our touring of Rome. From the Colosseum, the girls broke up into groups to navigate the many sites, sounds, and shops of Rome.
It's breathtaking and humbling to explore the many original architectural landmarks and monuments of the city. With 280 fountains and more than 900 churches in the city, we certainly weren't able to see everything but we did get glimpses of the major landmarks and a few were able to make inside the Colosseum. If nothing else, it put the travel bug in many of us to want to return to spend more time exploring this incredible city.
Please enjoy the Colosseum photos in the slideshow below.
Other notable structures the group took in while in Rome included many basilicas, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon (oldest Catholic church in Rome), the Forum and the Spanish Steps.
We finished the day with dinner in the city and a bus ride back to our hotel. Of note, we passed Castel Sant'Angelo on our drive.
The girls quickly packed up and went to bed as our bus is scheduled to take us to the airport at 4:45am tomorrow morning to make our 8am flight. We have a quick leg to London, about a 5 hour layover, and then are scheduled to land in Denver about 5:30pm. All in all, we will be traveling for about 22 hours tomorrow! And many of our out-of-state girls will be boarding a plane tomorrow night or Sunday morning to het to their homes -- so expect, jet-lagged, groggy and tired daughters when you see them next...and probably a pressing need for Starbucks!
No doubt this has been a whirlwind trip, but with so many things to experience, we don't think we could have done it any other way!
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