We touched down in the evening. We drove to our house and I found out that our house was big, had a balcony and was 2 blocks away from the beach! It was very nice.
The next day we went to Vatican City, the place where the pope (Pope Francis) lives. It is very hot and we came to St. Peter’s Square, the square that has the St. Peter’s Basilica standing right in front of it. We got permission to go inside the basilica and went in. The line to get in for free was about 4 hours long. I am glad we could pay and not wait in all that heat.
The basilica was humongous and beautiful! The entire ceiling was covered in paintings. We touched St. Peter’s statue’s foot, which is supposed to bring you luck if you touch it. We saw the place where people pray. We also went into the place where all the popes are buried. We even saw where St. Peter is buried! St. Peter was one of the apostles of Jesus.
After St. Peter’s Basilica we went to the Trevi Fountain, a fountain that was finished in 1762 and brings you luck if you throw a coin into it over your right shoulder. We needed to walk for a pretty long time to get to it. When we got there we were very happy that we came! It is very beautiful and big too. It is more like a building than a fountain (at least that is my opinion)! After the fountain we ate a deeeeeeelicious dinner, went home, and fell asleep.
When we woke up we decided to spend the day at the beach. I saw (unusual thing about this beach) that the sand was black and HOT, HHHOOOTTT, HHHHHHOOOOOOTTTTTTT!!! It was made from a volcanic matter, that’s why it had such an unusual color. It was also very nice to build castles and dig holes. The water was very clear. We stayed there for an hour or two and went to eat lunch (pizza, of course).
The second part of the day we went to the beach, but we went where you have a pool and where you could lie on a Chaise Lounge. It was very relaxing.
After the beach day my Mom and I went to the Colosseum. I was amazed when Mom told me that the Colosseum was finished in 8 years. It IS the world’s most famous and biggest amphitheater! We got tickets for a tour and followed our tour guide into the Colosseum.
The tour guide told us that once there was an earthquake so big that 1/3 of the Colosseum fell down. The people didn’t bother to fix it, so they made the Trevi Fountain and St. Peter’s Basilica out of the pieces of the poor old Colosseum. We went to the top level of the Colosseum and the view was great! The tour guide told us that the gladiators were mostly slaves and criminals. He also told us that the animals were kept under the Colosseum and it was very dark over there, so when they were set into the arena the animals would almost be blinded by the light of the sun and they would see that they needed to battle, so if the gladiator suddenly threw his sword and shield away it meant that the gladiator was pleading to the emperor to let him go off the arena. The audience could also vote for the gladiator’s death (or life).
We were standing in one place for so long that we left the tour and went home. The Colosseum was simply amazing.
The next day Mom’s friend Diana and her husband Doriano were going to drive us to their home at the other side of the Italian peninsula. Doriano has his own company called Teamone. It is a photo and video company. Please check it out. We were very excited to see the girls (their daughters: Cristina, Veronica and Anastasia) and stay with them for 2 weeks. See you in the next post!
