Rome - Day 3

Our third and final day in Rome started off a beautiful day. The sun was shining, there was hardly a cloud in sight, and we were off to see the Colosseum by 9 that morning. There was going to be city-wide union strikes that day, so public transport was going to close down for a couple of hours. Luckily it didn't really affect us. Here are a few pictures of us outside the Colosseum:

 

Arch of Constantine:

Inside the Colosseum:

These girls crack me up! They totally keep score. And while we're traveling they are obsessed with maps. We have to make sure we have extra maps - one for each of them! After exploring the Colosseum we headed to Saint Peter in Chains basilica. Here we were able to see Michelangelo's famous Moses statue. And yes, he has horns, a slight misinterpretation of the Bible.
We also saw the chains that are believed to have held Peter in Rome and Jerusalem:
We then went on a search for some much needed lunch. Unfortunately we didn't do too well on our lunch choice this day, but oh well... We ended up walking right alongside the union strike march. Pretty exciting stuff! After lunch we headed to see some of the Roman ruins. Unfortunately the clouds quickly rolled in and we got poured on while trying to explore the ruins. We missed a lot and could have spent quite a bit more time there. But such is life... Trying to stay dry underneath a tree. We weren't that successful! It was pouring and of course we didn't haul all our rain gear because the day had started out absolutely beautiful...
Right before we left the ruins - can you tell we're a bit wet???
A picture of the Colosseum once we exited the ruins:We then headed somewhere. I honestly can't remember what we were trying to accomplish. This statue and the hole-in-the-wall grocery store with cheap drinks and yummy snacks was the most exciting thing about that adventure! :) We then visited a pretty amazing basilica. We just kind of happened upon it and were glad we did. It was quite plain on the outside, but the inside was amazing:

We then grabbed our last yummy Italian meal and enjoyed some gelato at our favorite gelateria. We definitely enjoyed our Italian adventure with our friends. The only thing I would have changed was less rain and warmer weather. But hey, you never have control over the weather. If I ever make it back to Italy I'd do the Amalfi Coast. It was definitely my favorite part about our trip. It would be nice to just have a week of relaxation near the beautiful ocean when the weather's a bit warmer.