Rome: Trevi Fountain, Vatican, Coliseum, Forum

Friday afternoon, after settling into the hotel, we took a drive-around open air bus tour of the historic parts of Rome.  It was a very good way to get the overview of the city and sample the sites of interest.  After the bus tour ended, we walked to a couple of sites, most notably Trevi Fountain.  I added a couple of photos below.

Today we have had a long and busy day full of visiting the major sites in Rome.  While we have been generally opposed to doing the organized all day tour, today was an exception that was very worthwhile.  Being on a tour with a registered tour guide put us to the front of the line repeatedly and allowed us to see and do far more in one day than any person could do on their own.

We started with a 7:20am pickup by a large luxury motor coach and headed straight for the Vatican where we had an 8am appointment.  We were admitted right away while the individual visitors were lining up on the street for the 9am opening to the public.  After more than 3 hours we had seen a lot but had only seen part of what the Vatican offers.  I had no idea how large it is nor how much there is to see.  St Peter's Basilica is unbelievable in its size and beauty.  To learn more about it you can read a great summary here.  We were in the Sistine Chapel and in several interesting museums in Varican City.  I attached just a couple of photos below for this update.

We then drove to the Coliseum and the Forum.  More about them later, but they were both impressive and interesting.  It is hard to believe they and many other historic sites are so old, and yet standing.  A couple of photos from those sites are below as well.