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.