Roaming Through Rome

Entrance to Vatican City

We had two days to explore Rome.  Bob arranged for walking tours each day.  On the first day we toured Vatican City which took us through the Vatican Museum, Raphael's Rooms, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Cathedral.  The second day in Rome we toured the Colosseum and the ruins around the Forum.  When we weren't on those walking tours we were wandering around the city wishing we had our own personal tour guide to answer all our questions and to tell us where to find excellent pizza and gelato.

This statue is called The Laocoon.  It is a Roman copy of a Greek statue.  It was excavated in Rome in 1506.  Wouldn't you like to dig this up in your backyard.

The hallway of the Vatican Museum called the Gallery of the Candelabra.

The ceiling in the hallway of the Vatican Museum.

Fresco by Raphael.

My favorite statue was the Pieta in Saint Peter's Cathedral.  Michelangelo was only 25 years old when he made this sculpture.  The Pieta is now kept behind glass because in 1972 a man attacked it with a hammer.

One of the Vatican Guards.

Bob in front of a fountain in the Piazza Navona.  It was a cute plaza with outdoor cafes and artist booths and where we ate dinner our first night in Rome.

Largo di Torre Argentina is a current archeological dig.  It is believed that this is the site where Caesar was killed, not in the Forum by the Colosseum .  Remember Shakespeare's line, "Et tu, Brute?"

Another view of Largo di Torre Argentina.

Bob's favorite artist is Caravaggio.  Several Caravaggio's are found in churches and museums in Rome.  These two Caravaggio paintings are in a small church called San Luigi dei Francesi.   The Calling of St. Matthew is on the left and The Inspiration of St. Matthew is on the right.

Trevi Fountain

The outside of the Colosseum.  It had 80 entrances and would hold 55,000 spectators.  The spectators could watch animals fighting to the death in the morning, animals killing prisoners at lunchtime  and gladiator battles in the afternoon.  Those Romans were a blood thirsty lot.

The inside of the Colosseum.  These are the below ground rooms that housed prisoners, animals and gladiators. 

The right hand portion of this picture shows the Colosseum with a rebuilt floor to give you the idea of how it once looked. All the seats of the Colosseum were removed centuries ago and reused by past generations in other monuments in the city.  It was an ancient form of recycling.

The three rings to the Colosseum are visible now because part of the walls were destroyed by an earthquake.

The ruins of the Forum.  Modern day Rome is literally built on the ruins of the Romans.  They have a hard time building anything new because whenever they dig down, they find ruins.

Roman Villas overlooking the Forum and Colosseum. 

Ciao!