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Probably the most predictable photo of Rome...The Colosseum. The interesting part of this photo is that it was taken from our hotel. This is from the hotel's rooftop terrace, where we ate breakfast everyday. Not too shabby. The ruins in the foreground is where gladiators were trained, excavated in the last 80 years or so. |
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Here's proof that we were actually here and not just stealing someone else's photos...Chris and The Colosseum. |
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Proof that I was here, too. |
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Some random gladiators at The Colosseum, wearing Birkenstocks. |
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And we saw a real Gladiator! Fighting tigers and giants! Okay, I'm lying. But we did see this movie at least a couple of times. |
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A nice photo of the Constantine Arch taken from inside The Colosseum...but wait? What is that blonde woman doing? Could that be Staci spitting over the edge onto the unsuspecting people below? |
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Ruins around The Colosseum and The Forum. Yes, they're falling down, but they're about 2000 years old. |
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The early afternoon of our first day in Rome, the sky clouded up and a thunderstorm started. We got lucky and quickly dashed into a train station to wait it out. We were quickly followed by nearly every other tourist in Rome. You can imagine how packed we were in here with a few hundred steaming bodies around us for an hour! |
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The Trevi Fountain. Amazing to see in person! |
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The Piazza Venezia. Sometimes called the "wedding cake" by the Romans. It is a giant mass of marble. Right in this square we made a mistake that started off innocently enough...we decided to stop for some famous Italian ice cream. While ordering our ice cream, the server asked if we wanted to sit down in their cafe, we decided that was a good idea. After finishing, we got the bill...29 euros! For two small ice creams, two little bottles of water, and ten minutes at a table. We learned right then to ASK how much things cost before committing to buy. |
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The Pantheon. |
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Just in case you were curious, here is what my feet looked like after walking the streets of Rome for 2 solid days. I wasn't the only one with ouchie feet! I saw so many women with band-aids covering everywhere their sandals touched. Remember, this photo is only from the 2nd day of an 8 day trip. My feet got much worse than this. Sorry if this grosses you out. Chris hates this picture. |
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For a complete change of pace, here is a nice shot of St. Peters Bascilica, at The Vatican. We spent a whole day touring St. Peter's and The Vatican Museum. We don't have many photos of this day because much of the day was spent inside, and since St. Peter's has only natural light, the photos didn't come out well. Also, photos were not allowed in the Sistine Chapel. |
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A close-up of St. Peter's. Michaelangelo was one of the many designers of this building. |
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The Pope's apartments. |
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And Benedict XVI himself, throwing his arms up to welcome us! We didn't really see the Pope. I'm totally stealing pictures again. |
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St. Peter himself, outside of the Basilica. Our tour guide told us that whenever you see a statue holding a key, that's St. Peter. |
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This is Chris, inside St. Peter's Basilica. He is rubbing the foot of the statue of St. Peter. Why? Well, in the old days, it was said that Catholics get 40 "indulgences" by rubbing his foot, meaning 40 fewer days in Purgatory. Nowadays, rubbing this foot grants you a blessing. You can imagine, after centuries of foot rubbings all day long, his foot was eventually worn away. They replaced the foot, and this current foot is now worn completley smooth. |
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Photos were not allowed in the Sistine Chapel, but they must have been allowed for SOMEBODY, since this photo exists! We didn't take this shot, but this is what we saw. |
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"We are NOT a tourist attraction! We are part of the famous Swiss Guard, and even in these silly costumes, we can kick butt! Don't try to get your picture taken with us! We will fake-punch you!" (We saw this!) "We have been protecting The Vatican for centuries in these silly pants! Now move along!" I find it really hard to take these Ronald McDonald guys seriously...but our tour guide said they can 'take care of business' when necessary. No guns, but they carry daggers. |
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Chris and Staci, in The Vatican Square. Chris is getting good at holding the camera at arm's length and taking these pictures! The only thing that Chris didn't like about our day at The Vatican was that he couldn't wear shorts...no shorts, no short skirts, and no bare shoulders allowed. We saw people get turned away after waiting a half-hour or so at security. |
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An artsy picture taken from inside a tavern in an ancient neighborhood of Rome. |
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Our last night in Rome, Chris was smokin' a cigar and counting out some money. |
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Our last partial day in Rome, we visited the Basilica San Clemente at the suggestion of one of Chris' Italian collegues. What a remarkable place! It is an ancient church, built in the 1200's. That's amazing enough, but it was built on top of another church, built in 350 A.D. So you can go downstairs and see the OLD church. But there's more! You can go downstairs again and you're inside an ancient Roman pagan temple from the FIRST century A.D. No photos were allowed inside the church, but here's the outside. |
