Italy ~ Day 9 & 10

Avery and I had a nice leisurely morning while much of the crew was at the church working.  I lingered over breakfast with a couple members of the group chatting and then we sat outside in the courtyard under the sun...Avery did homework and I did my Kindle.

Lunch was at a pizzeria down the street from the church.  Food was bought by the kilogram.  This dude was so happy and friendly.

 Our poster at the bus stop...so cool!

 We ducked in for some water before service.

The pastor on the left is Andre...he speaks FIVE European languages, plus English.  Can you imagine??  He was interpreting the service into Italian for the pastor on the right, who was part of the medical team from Florida.

 Group shot!  I don't think I've introduced everyone, so I'll do that now.

Brent is in the blue Roma shirt, this is day two or three in that same shirt.  :)  Brent is the writer, producer, main actor, coordinator, everything.  An amazing man and a good friend.  His mom is all the way to the right.

Brent's wife, Tami is in the orange shirt and her parents are to the left.  Together, Brent and Tami have two daughters, Aria and Tori (teal shirt and pink shirt).  Aria runs the lights and Tori is the main actress.  Both are very good at what they do and both love our kids.  We're grateful for the good role models they are for our girls.

Jen is in the middle holding her three month-old, Yahaira and her mom is in the navy behind her.  Jen is in a couple scenes and she is also my girls' voice teacher.  And you know the girl in the white and that handsome guy in the back holding a sweet little eight year-old.

An eclectic group, to be sure, but such sweet hearts.

 By this time it was nearing 10PM and we were quite hungry.

 The next morning we were ready for another adventure.  Shaun and Brent, who'd seen the Colosseum on their trip last year were prepping us on the train, saying, this is one of those wow moments in your life.  You will step out of the train station and the Colosseum will be right in front of you!

 We stepped out and saw....scaffolding!  Bummer!

 Shaun was trying to gently explain to Avery some of the things she'd hear about, much of it not exactly kid-friendly.

 Its super strange to pose for a "family" picture with only half your family.  Of the 19 years of our family, we only looked like this for 17 months.

 Just within the last year and a half they've started to let people go down under the Colosseum

 They out posts in these holes and would have four slaves walking around it to hoist up a platform that would go out to the main level to wow the waiting audience.  Hundreds were needed for those duties.

 View from the top level.

 That outer white line is where it used to come out to.

 Arch of Constantine

 Ruins of the Palatino (I think?)

 Olive tree...wish I could take one home since I use its oil everyday on my salads and for cooking.

 The apostle Paul walked along these stones.

 Looking down on the Roman Forum

 "All roads lead to Rome".  At one point, quite literally, ALL roads led to this one column.  All roads led to Rome because Rome built all the roads...for the purposes of war.

 This is what's left of Julius Caesar's palace and where he was killed.

 This is where Paul was imprisoned and where he wrote II Timothy, particularly meaningful, since the show is all about the life of Paul.

 Capitoline Hill

 Outside of the Pantheon.

The Pantheon...these columns weight about 60 TONS each and were brought to Rome from Egypt.  Completely mind-boggling.

 The Piazza

 Inside the Pantheon....such a marvel!!  It was built more than 1800 years ago, but looks like it could have been last year.  A sight to behold!

 I tried in vain to capture the event of riding a city bus.  There seems to be no enforced limit of people or poundage.  I never saw any person decline to get on because it was already way too full.  Funny.

 One last look at the Colosseum before getting on the train.  The black that you see is not from age but rather from exhaust.  Until recently the road around it, like right around it, was open.  Now it is just for buses and taxis and the plan is to close it completely.  Good thing, because the vibrations from the traffic haven't helped the building either.