Smith's Europe Adventure: Day 65: The Sistine Chapel, Trevi Fountain, and the Parthenon (July 18):

This morning, we aren’t so gung-ho to get up as early. We leave for the Vatican museum and the Sistine Chapel.

Standing outside the Vatican city Walls.

A really cool thing was a dead mummy! He was really skinny. You could even see all of his hair!

"We ended in the Sistine Chapel, what an incredible feat, painting that ceiling on his back so many years ago, it is beautiful." Grandma Walker.

    At the end of the museum was the Grand Finale! The Sistine Chapel, with Michael Angelo’s painting of God’s finger giving life to man! The whole room was painted by him. It was incredible.
The people in the paintings, must be 8-10 feet tall! I truly think Michael Angelo was inspired as he painted this. He said that when he was given this assignment, he went away to meditate and had a vision as to what the Lord wanted him to paint.
   On the way home, the kids shop for a bit, and then we go home to eat lunch and cool off.
   In the evening, we grab a bite to eat and drive around Rome. After a few tries, we find the temple grounds where the LDS temple is under construction.
   "We drove to the Rome Italy Temple construction site and someone was just leaving the grounds
we asked him why there were three buildings being built and to see if we could go in to see them. He told us no and drove away, Benson stood in the gate entrance and the automatic system stopped the gate from closing, so we got to peek inside to see the Temple, the Visitor center and the Apartments for those who will be working in the Temple. They were all just steel frames, but it was fun to see them." Grandma Walker.

Then we drive back to the heart of Rome and we find the Trevi fountain – boy is it packed! The kids throw their coins in and make their wishes. Talie wishes for a good move, Peyton wishes for Sonic to be real, and Kennedi wishes for a baby doll, Ariel. Some guy offers to take our picture with the I pad, but we are leery, thinking he is going to steal it – he knows what we are thinking and laughs at us.

"We loved going to the Trevi Fountain, it was evening and the water glowed." Grandma Walker.