Skipping Christmas Day 15

The day after New Year's Eve was a very relaxed one. Unfortunately most things were closed so we had to get creative in our quest for activities. We decided to start the day off with some church hopping, but on the way we admired these ruins.

And this elephant obelisk. 

Yeah for churches being open on January first!

This church has some famous works by Caravaggio.

The Calling of Saint Matthew. Click Here For More Info.

This church has a nun whipping some evil Protestants.

This is a large mirror to help you see the ceiling better.

On our way to the park we walked through this square.
(John Keats died in the building on the right).

There was an orchestra playing so we stayed and listened for a while.

Walking up the hill to the park we enjoyed some nice views of the city.

In the park!

The entrance to the zoo is also in this park. We did not go into the zoo but there was 

a neat turtle pond that was fun to watch.

Everyone has a nativity scene- even the turtle pond.

Horse fountain in the park.

Eric insisted this was hops. I maintain it is a pine cone.

Out of the park and back into the city.

 Late lunch at our favorite pizza place!

I broke down and bought some scarves! Three for 5 Euros... hard to pass up.

We went back to the B&B and had some down time. Eric decided to go out and get takeout dinner from the highest rated pizza place in Rome. (Which was not too far away from our place.) This is what he found when he got there- it was closed too!

He came back with a different pizza take out- definitely not the best pizza in Rome...

Skipping Christmas Day 14

 Another full day in Rome! We started things off with a light breakfast.

This was our first day riding the bus. We had done all walking up until now. We were pretty wary about taking the bus in Rome because it is infamous for pickpocketing tourists. Luckily we did not have any issues. (Side note- there are literally no bus times in Rome. You just wait until one shows up.)

Just another fountain. There is an impressive fountain around every corner in Rome.

Our first stop was a small church that has a famous Bernini statue, the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa. The statue was very beautiful and easy to stop by and see. All churches in Rome are open long hours and are all free. It is very easy to see tons of world class art without paying much besides a few donations.

Eric found another fountain!

Another church for us to stop in. This one has a crazy calendar on the floor where a ray of sunlight tells you what day it is.

We made it to our main destination, the National Museum of Rome. 

Eric found another Roman calendar.

Lots of statues too!

Some really rare original Greek bronze statues.

 A very famous one- Boxer of Quirinal. Click Here For More Info.

 The basement of the museum hosts the world's largest coin collection. Literally thousands of coins tracing Italy's history. There was a lot of interesting information about money reform over the centuries. Eric LOVED this part of the museum. I zipped through the coins pretty quickly and ended up waiting for him on a bench for a good 20 minutes.

This is a coin mold.

I spied on Eric while I was waiting.

Out of the coins and back to the mosaics!

 

This was a whole fresco room from a house that they reinstalled in the museum.

The panorama from the iPhone doesn't do it justice.

Late lunch / early dinner time! Delicious pasta and veggie plate.

We took some nice sunset pictures on our way back to the B&B. Tonight was New Year's Eve so we headed back a little early so we could rest up for midnight.

After a nap (for me) and some sweet treats we were ready to head back out again. 

(Eric has a carrot in his mouth for some reason).

We hiked up a hill where we found a good view of the city. There were a ton of locals there as well so I think we made the right decision. There were three large firework shows going on at different locations in the city. We were able to see all of them plus hundreds of individual fireworks going off. Our pictures do not do it justice but it was very neat and memorable.