First Dentist Appointment

Brady visited the dentist for the first time and thought it was a pretty cool place.  Who wouldn't like the dentist when you play games and match movies in the waiting room, get stickers, see fish, put tokens in a machine to get a prize, get a balloon, get a spinning tooth brush and a sack with various other surprises and get a certificate with your picture.  To top things off after your appointment you get real ice cream.  How cool is that.  For the parents the waiting room has free Starbucks coffee and bottled water.  With all the freebies, I'm not sure how this place makes any money.  The report from the dentist is that Brady's teeth look great.  If you ask Brady about the dentist he will say, "She counted my teeth and I got treats."  Hopefully the next appointment goes as smoothly as the first.

Rome - Vatican City

We were all pretty jazzed up to meet the pope at the Vatican.  Little did I know I would actually get a couple of feet away from a pope, but that he was in a glass coffin.  Honestly I'm not real sure about the glass coffins.  Cory pointed out a group of nuns posing and taking pictures with the late Pope John XIII. 

The outside of the Vatican is fairly standard issue.  The large stone wall is functional, but doesn't have much character.  Inside the Vatican however is an impressive world of religion, history and art.  Some come on a religion pilgrimage, others want to appreciate the beauty of the arts.  Even if you are not an art lover, there are some spectacular things to be seen.

St. Peter's Basilica

The paintings in the Sistine Chapel are simply amazing.  You are not supposed to take pictures while you're in the chapel so I abided by the rules although I saw many people sneaking in photos.  Learning about how Michelangelo stood on scaffolding and painted with dust falling into his eyes for years to the point of causing him near blindness just amazes me.  Despite having thousands of tourists visiting each day it is still a serene, peaceful place.  We did get a bit of a chuckle because you are supposed to be in complete silence in the chapel and Brady started signing Happy Birthday in full volume to Everyone.  "Happy Birthday to Everyone" he sang.

Swiss Guards, not the most masculine uniforms.

St. Peters Square

Rome

Bruschetta, Pizza, Pasta. Wine & Gelato.  It's probably a good thing we were only in Rome four days as I think it would be nearly impossible not to gain weight on this diet.  Every meal we had was fantastic.  I was expecting the cuisine to be much like in the US or London where you can find just about any cuisine.  Not the case as pretty much every restaurant was a Pizzeria of some sort.  There were of course a few other options, but pizzerias outnumbered other places at least 10:1. 
We did quite a bit of eating, but managed to squeeze a few other things into our schedule.  There is so much history in Rome, but I'll stick with the pictures.  I'm sure I've left out a few things, but these are the major highlights.

Colosseum

 

 

Jewish Ghetto

National Monument for the 1st King of a Unified Italy

Pantheon

 

 

 

Trevi Fountain

Piazza Novana

Spanish Steps

Rome Zoo

View from Parc Villa Borghese

Santa Maria Maggiore

We had an amazing time in Rome and hope to travel back to see more of Italy someday.  No more trips planned in the near future.  I think we're going to enjoy the Midwest for awhile.  This concludes our year in Europe.  I'm looking forward to getting back to our 'normal', but will always remember the experience.