Italy - Day 23 (Rome)

Corey had his last day of his conference today.  I spent the morning packing up a bit and doing laundry, before the kids and I caught a bus into town to go to our next art class on mosaics.

 We arrived a bit early - yes EARLY! - so we had time to have a coffee...

My typical Gia coffee series of shots...

The we began our mosaic class.  Lily and Caden both did picture frames.  Gia worked on a flower and a butterfly.

Making progress....

Gia's finished projects

Almost done...

The finished frame.  Bellisimo!

 We had a chance to pick up our pottery too, which we viewed over lunch in the little cafe.  They had meatballs, which both Caden and Lily loved.  Caden ordered 5 servings of meatballs!

Next we caught a bus to the Vatican.  By this point in the day it was over 100-degrees.  We walked a bit, but there was sea of people, so we decided to turn back.

Vatican Guard

All we could see at the Vatican - people!!!

 We caught the bus back home.  Caden fell asleep on my lap.  We were all a sweaty mess by the time we made it back to our air-condition-free Gate House.  The kids took a cold bath, and settled in for a movie while I packed up.

Surprised to find this little visitor in the kitchen!!!

Once Corey got home, Lily and I headed out to do some shopping.  We were delighted to get a quick rain storm while we waited for the bus :)

We headed to Zara.  We were both picking out outfits for each other.  Unfortunately they closed on the early side, so I was able to pick out some clothes for Lily, but she ran out of time to dress me.  So we wandered into a few other shops, but I came home empty-handed.  I assured that we would find some outfits for me in Milan.

The outfit I picked for Lily.  She ended up with the shirt and shoes - not the pants.  She also bought a cute sundress.

Lily holding her purchases and watching one of the street vendors do an elaborate spray paint scene (below).

We found a McDonald's, so ducked in for a bathroom break and some dinner.  They had kiosks to place your own order, and spinach-parmesan nuggets, coconut milkshakes and other interesting items.  Lily got the usual chicken nugget Happy Meal, which she said tasted much healthier than the chicken nuggets in the U.S.

We ventured to our usual bus stop for the trip home and noticed there were soldiers on the monument.  We also noticed that our bus was out of service, so we caught a cab instead.  Very fun girls night out!  Aside from Lily's outfit, we picked up a little dress for Gia and the splat-ball-pigs that Caden had really wanted.