Joanna & Jesse Visit

Joanna and Jesse came from New York to visit us in Italy!

I flew to Rome from Sardinia and met them at the airport. We arrived at Termini Station and Joanna learned her first lesson about Rome. Romany people begging for money outside of the train station.

First stop on the tour was the Spanish Steps or as they are known in Italian, Scalinata della Trinity dei Monti. They were built in 1725 and are made up of 135 steps that lead from the Piazza di Spagna to the church as the top of the steps, the Trinity dei Monti. It was really tourist-y and hard to really see a whole lot. Plus, the obelisk at the top was under construction so it was hard to see. We decided to come back later...

We walked down the Via dei Carrozze and walked directly into the front of the most amazing little church. The Sant' Ambrosia e Carlo al Corso. It was built in 1610 to honor Saints Ambrose and Charles Borromeo. The remains of Saint Ambrose are interred in the church.

Headed over to the Trevi Fountain.. It was built in 1762 by Nicola Scalvi.

We headed over the to Pantheon..

Ended the day back at the Spanish Steps..

Day 2 stared with a walk down the street to the Santa Maria Maggiore in the Piazza dell'Esquilino.

Then off to the Vatican Museums

So, this is weird, but there's a whole room here with statues that have had their bits chopped off.

Scenes from the Vatican Museum Bathroom

We then headed over the the Vatican-- St Peter's Basilica...

After some rest we headed out to see Palau...

Joanna playing in the water.

I believe the conversation went a little like this:

Joanna- "Take your shoes off and get in the water with me."

Jesse- "No"

Joanna- "Fine, then I'll just throw this handful of sand at you." 

We headed out in the morning to Alghero and directly to Capo Caccia. It's about a twenty minute drive from Alghero up to the top.. We parked and headed down the 656 steps down into Neptune's Grotto..

Prior to the steps being installed, the Grotto was a prison..

Then over to Codrongianos to see the The Basilica della Santissima Trinità di Saccargia.

The church was finished in 1116 over the ruins of a pre-existing monastery, and consecrated on October 5 of the same year.