The Roman Holiday

given the fact that this blog has been on a 4 month hiatus- enjoy some photos & a few sentences about recent adventures.

Pictured here is the Roman Forum, the family inside the Colosseum, the family sitting on the Spanish steps, St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, and the Colosseum at night. We thoroughly enjoyed our Roman holiday over Christmas, the history, beauty, art, food, and age of the city wowed us all. Kids were bribed with gelato to endure the sight-seeing. Borghese Galleria, with Bernini's sculptures, was Amy's favorite. The Sistine Chapel is remarkable as well. We were glad to see the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Pantheon, fountains, piazzas, Bocca della Verita, several churches, & the Capuchini Crypt (exerpt from a website)

The crypt of the church comprises five chapels, the floors of which are covered with earth brought from the Holy Land. Friars that were part of the Capucin community at this church were buried in that holy earth, but when the space was filled, bodies of the long deceased were dug up and dismantled to make room for new occupants. The bones of the disinterred – from some 4000 bodies dating between 1528 and 1870 – were then used to create intricate designs that cover the walls and the vaults of the chapels.