VISITING THE VATICAN (with Lorenzo Loverde as our Guide).

We were able to travel on the Subway with Elder and Sister Valentine and Lorenzo Loverde to downtown Rome to see many beautiful sights!  Lorenzo was our tour guide and we really had to walk fast to keep up with him!  Pictured below is Lorenzo and Larry hanging on for dear life!  The Metro is very FAST!!!

        Right when we came upstairs from the Metro, the Coliseum was right there!  They have been working on cleaning the outside of the Coliseum, and it is amazing how beautiful it is!  In the background, you can see where they haven't cleaned it and it is still black on the outside.

Lorenzo took us to a hill on the side of the Coliseum, which gave us a whole new perspective.  Here we are standing with Elder and Sister Valentine.  The sun was going down and it was beautiful!

This is the Arc of Constantine.  This is only a few hundred feet from the Coliseum!  This is so beautiful!  The detail and beauty of this is amazing!

                   This is the Monument to the State!  There is no words to describe how huge this is!  The Statues and carvings are beyond amazing!  There are two guards that stand at attention 24 hours a day !

     We were able to see the changing of the guards!  They wear Military uniforms with capes.  A third guard adjusts their uniforms after they take their places!  Everything is done so perfectly!

Everywhere we went there was such wonderful architecture and beautiful sights to see!  The church in the background is right across the street from the Monument to the State.

The streets are lined with lights for the Holidays!  Beautiful!

This is the Tevere River.  The moon is in the background and it was a beautiful night!

This is part of the Vatican.  (Sorry it is out of focus!)  There are statues or Angels above each column!  This area of the Vatican is a big circle and it had a beautiful Nativity and gigantic Christmas tree set up right in the middle of the circle!  The tree was one of the largest in the world!

 This is the other side of the "circle of Angels".  Way up on the top of the far building is where the Pope lives.

Every branch of the Christmas tree had tinsel, huge balls and lights decorating the tree!  It was gorgeous!

This is Saint Peter's Cathedral.  It stands at the top of the "key" or circle in the Vatican.

There are countless Columns lining the Vatican!!!  Beautiful!!!

Seeing downtown Rome at night was so wonderful!!!

Larry is standing on a beautiful bridge lined with statues!  The bridge goes over the Tevere River.   Castle Saint Angelo is in the background!  Wow!

We really had a wonderful day and we love exploring the city of Rome on our P-day!  We hope you are all doing well and feeling our prayers!

Love,  Larry and Lynne