Rome
Rome was everything I expected it to be - great history, art, and monuments. We probably could have spent another week without scratching the surface.
Maria Maggiore
Steph
Left side of Collosseo.
Plaque at entrance to Collosseo.
Collosseo interior.
Interior, slightly higher viewing angle.
Right side interior.
Good shot of the basement.
Closer look at edge.
Edge of the Imperial Forum that faces the Collosseo.
Columns (mostly patched together) of Trajan's Forum.
Trajan's column, still freestanding and in near-perfect condition.
Monument to Victor Emmanuel II, first king of Italy.
Pantheon - a 3rd century building converted to a church at some point or other, but still retaining it's pagan character.
Interior of Pantheon - the roof is open at the center, and the floor is convex to channel water into drains.
Madonna with child in Pantheon. It's very dirty; maybe because the place doesn't charge admission.
Outside shot of Pantheon again.
The famous Trevi Fountains. Still fed by ancient Roman aqueducts.
Close-up of the principal sculpture in the Fontaine Trevi.
Even closer, more minor part of the sculpture.
The Spanish Steps. Once prominent bohemians hang out here. Now it's strictly California-girls and -boys.
Monument in Saint Peter's Square (oddly, it isn't square).
Principally, it's the place where the Pope keeps all of his chairs.
We were lucky to be there when it wasn't very crowded (it got very, very crowded, very quickly).
Inscription on inside of dome of St. Peter's... it says "Peter was here".
Looking back toward the Holy Portal.
Sculpture in St. Peter's.
Somewhat blurry shot of dome, from inside.
Another try at natural light.
Shot from above, on the way to the top of the dome. Structure in the foreground right is St Peter's Chair (I think).
Closer shot of underside of Dome. Translation is: "If you can read this you are too close.
Shot from top of dome, into Vatican.
St Peter's Square (see? It isn't really square) from the dome on St. Peter's.
Papal residence? Something inside the vatican at any rate.
Frizzy-headed something-or-other. Probably looks totally plausible from ground level.
I blame that Michaelangelo bastard for these ridiculous uniforms. Probably a big joke on the Swiss.
Front-facing look at St Peter's through the square from the street in front.
Tiber.
Better shot of the Tiber.
Castello Santangelo.
Castello Santangelo from bridge.
Fountain of Rivers (Piazza Navona).
Us, before taking the Forum tour.
Caesar's Forum.
Imperial Forum.
Nerva's Forum.
Augustus' Forum.
Arc D'Tito (entrance to Roman Forum).
Detail of Arc.
Steph, w/ sore feet, at Roman Forum.
A random chunk of marble at the Roman Forum.
Temple at the Roman Forum - the original Roman ruin is the set of columns in front.
More forum.
Resored temple columns at Forum.
Hillside with Roman foundations.
Temple corner.
Arc d' something-or-other.
Minerva.
Romulus, Remus, Wolf.
Us, at the forum.
Roman Baths.
Mosaic.
More wreck of the baths.
The baths at rome (and much of the rest of the place) are made out of Tufa stone, a very soft stone out of which bricks are cut.
There was a lot of ruined mosaic at the baths... most of it looks like this.
Somebody bringing home a sunflower.
Ancient Appian Way.
Private driveway off of Appian Way.
Random ruins beside Appian Way. Just random ruins, apparently they have enough to go around, they don't have to excavate every single one.
Christian Shrine (probably to Mary) on the way to the catacombs. The catacombs themselves were great, but I couldn't use flash and none of my pictures came out :-(.
Road leaving the catacombs.
Some great paitings in the Vatican Museum... unfortunately there are wayt oo many people.
Annunziation (Perugini). Perugini is so good, you never have to sharpen the image. Something went wrong with my camera in the Vatican Museum, but this one came out very well.
??? (Raphael). Lost the title of the painting - it's huge, and much crisper than the picture shows.
Spiral staircase from below.
Spiral staircase from above.
??? - Raphael and his students?
Big Brass Ball of some sort. In a coutyard, in the Vatican Museum.
Hall of cheesy-looking busts.
Last modified: Fri Jun 30 17:01:32 Pacific Daylight Time 2000