Our Roman Holiday (last part)

We went to Rome, Italy for a "last hoorah" trip over here in Europe last weekend. We had a pretty good time, considering we were traveling with a 19 month old who refused to sleep more than 30 min. to an hour during the day, and not enough at night to make up for it. He's a trooper, though, really a good traveler...could have something to do with the fact that we've taken him with us on all our vacations starting with a week long trip to Berlin and Dresden when he was 5 weeks old! Since then he's been to 16 countries (I think) and on at least 18 flights (possibly more, I may be forgetting some) and countless trains. He really is a good kid, when you think about all we put him through!
Anyway, other than being really hot on Sunday, and all of us getting slightly sunburned the first day when I forgot to put sunscreen on us, and Josh and I covered in bug bites, we had a blast! It was so amazing to be able to see such ancient buildings/ruins...to stand where people who lived the same time or even before Christ have stood...to see the Colosseum and Circus Maximus where so many Christians died such horrible deaths, but were so brave to not recant their belief in Christ. Wow! The whole atmosphere there is so relaxed and just geared so you can just enjoy yourself, great for a vacation.
So anyway, this is the last day of our holiday...part of it, but for some reason I can't upload anymore pictures, so we'll work with these for now.

Josh and I at one of the fountains in the Piazza Navona. One of Josh's favorite things was to splash in the fountains...he would have gone swimming in them if we'd let him!
The Pantheon, now a Catholic chapel. BEAUTIFUL! The inside was all tiled all over the floor and ceiling.
Piazza Navona with all the artists and their artwork. We actually bought a beautiful oil painting here!

This is another fountain, but had a railing around it, so no splashing for Josh.
Josh at the Pantheon. Looks posed, doesn't it? Nope, he just sat himself there...loved those columns!
This is the inside of the Pantheon. You can seed the beautiful tiling and the HUGE doors!
The dome of the Pantheon. Apparently the height of the building and the radius of the dome are the same...semi-useless trivia that AJ fed me.
The outside of the Pantheon...lots of people there.
They had some horses/carriages outside the Pantheon in front of the fountain...so after splashing Josh and I went to visit the horses...this one was so sad looking, with his hips and ribs sticking out and veins popping out all over his neck and face. He was very friendly, though. Josh loved him!
We're not entirely sure what these ruins were...they were just in the middle of town, you turn a corner and there they are, surrounded by a little fence. Apparently where all the city's cats live. I counted at least 10.
More ruins...
While we were at the Pantheon letting Josh play on the columns, this other little boy, probably about 4 or 5 came up and started playing with Josh. Here he is showing him how high the columns are...so cute with both of them looking up like they were having a whole conversation or something!
Good friends after about 30 seconds.
Josh climbing the column, with a little help from Mamma
This was the most beautiful church...I think prettier than the Sistine Chapel or St. Peter's. The artwork was INCREDIBLE! Il Gesu was it's name.
Part of the mural on the ceiling.
More of the church
The mural above the altar
The full mural on the ceiling...there's a glare on the sun rays with a dove flying out from the real sun coming in the windows up high.
Josh playing in another fountain...in front of the building below.

This is their memorial like the Tomb of the Unknown soldier. Its in front of this giant white building built around the turn of the 20th century. Apparently most Romans hate it and think it's one of the ugliest things in the city.
Here's the full view. I think it was some kind of palace or government building.
This is more of the Il Gesu church.

OK, hopefully I can upload some more pics tonight or tomorrow afternoon so you can see more of our trip.