Jacob and Abi Beutler Family

On Jacob's to-do list for Rome was see some catacombs, underground cemeteries for early Christians. We went to a 45-minute tour of the Catacombs of San Callisto. We don't have any pictures of the inside of the catacombs (as it is forbidden to take photos of such a sacred place), but really enjoyed the tour, and I left with a feeling of gratitude for the early Christians.

Next up to highlight is Rome's first church, St. John's Basilica. It was gorgeous and HUGE (note how tiny Lizzie looks next the apostle Matthew's statue). The kids did not have much patience for it though (too much of a temptation for them to go wild) so we only looked around for half an hour (good thing it was free).

We also went to the Villa Borghese Park in search for a hot air balloon for the kids, but underestimated the parks' size and the time of sunset, so did not do much here, much to the kids disappointment. The park is huge, and if you don't know your way around you mostly wander around, trying to look like you know where you are going. But we did get some excellent photos, the kids got to watch some talented roller-bladers, and we treated ourselves to some fancy pastries on our way home. But still, Ben and Liz would have loved the hot air balloon.