Rome, day 3

We began our 3rd day in Rome with a delicious breakfast in our neighborhood before catching a cab to Vatican City. First up was a tour of the Vatican museum.  We saw the Roman collection.  The Vatican museum  has many different collections as was explained by our tour guide, it's never a guarantee which collection will be open for tours on any given day.  We learned that Vatican City was home to approximately 880 people, those working in the Vatican and their families, and of course Pope Leo!  We toured St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel.  Both were so beautiful.  It's impossible to capture the Basilica in pictures, and in the Sistine Chapel no photos were allowed and silence was required.  That was my favorite part of Vatican City.  We also saw the window where the Pope Leo lives.  Sadly we did not have an audience with the him!  

After our tour, we grabbed a quick snack before heading back to our neighborhood.  We had a tour of the Pantheon next on our schedule.  One of the unique things we learned about the Pantheon the roof is made of unreinforced concrete that is over 2000 years old.  Catholic mass is celebrated in the Pantheon each week.

Finally, we visited the cat sanctuary.  Ben noticed this gem on day 1 of our arrival in Rome.  Eric, Ben and I enjoyed our visit with the kitties.  The sanctuary has had a very successful capture, neuter and release program for many years.  The sanctuary learned about the program from the United States!  How about that!  

Later that afternoon Eric and I ditched the boys and went to find a Hugo Spritz at a cafe before meeting the boys for dinner.  They found a non-touristy location for the nights dinner.  Our waiter did not speak much  English.  The dinner was kind of a game of charades, we were defiantly the winners as everything was so delicious and authentic! 

Before dinner we took a walk along the Tiber River and came across the Supreme Court building.  It was a beautiful building with the chariot on top.

Eric and I ended our night with a glass of wine on our balcony while Nick and Sam went out for a little night life.  They met a group of guys from Italy that went to school in the states and went to an Italian night club!  "When in Rome"!  

It was a short night for some of us as we had to be up early to catch the early-ish train to Florence!