Rome

I hardly even know where to begin. This was the best city I’ve ever traveled to… ever. We visited as much of ancient Rome as we could the first day—the Colosseum, forum, Palatine Hill, the Pantheon. The interior of the Colosseum was nothing like I expected and the hollowing out of the ruins actually let you see down into all the chambers in the former basement. Fallen columns and capitals are all over the pathways… it was completely amazing. What really surprised me, though, were all the unimportant ruins scattered all over the place. As you walk up Palatine Hill, there are foundations to buildings everywhere, and the area around the forum has all been preserved. I’m not sure why, but I always imagined Rome as only having the big landmarks preserved and everything else paved over. It was absolutely incredible still be able to see so much of the ancient city. We got started a little late we arrived five minutes too late to see Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum ruins (the entrance, unbeknownst to us, closed at 3, even though it stayed open for another 90 minutes or so) and it was the only day we had really allotted for it … so, while I felt kind of bad, we decided to hop over a relatively unguarded hill in the entrance and enjoy the hour an a half, up-close with some of the coolest ruins in the city! So worth it…
We spend the second day in the Vatican, wandering around the best museum I’ve ever been in. Seriously, everything was in here (much of it in the Sistine Chapel): the ceiling (of course), Raphael’s School of Athens, The Handing Over of the Keys, like 2 or 3 Madonnas I think, The Temptation of Christ, The Last Judgment, Portrait of Saint Jerome… a ridiculously good portion of all the top art in the world, ever. I don’t even have words to describe St. Peter’s Basilica… I’ll leave it to the 5000 picture here. It was absolutely incredible. And climbing to the top of the cupola for the best view of Rome that I ever saw was a nice ending.
On the third day, I convinced everyone to come out to the Roman countryside to see Tivoli. There’re some amazing ruins and Roman/Italian villas out there. It was a nice break from the bustle of Rome and Villa d’ Este was incredible.

Oh yeah, and I was thinking about how Romans/Italians had plazas before the Spanish but they're very small and not open or used enough... they just don't measure up.

random ruins



Colosseum!


Pre-fight gladiator POV



Ruins around the forum.

Went up this wrong street and almost didn't get into Palatine Hill/Ancient Roman Forum...



Views were nice from the hill.



Not all ruins can stand up by themselves

Not that impressed with Rome really...



Government center

Piazza Capitoline

Pantheon

Trevi Fountain

St. Peter's!









On the way to the top of St. Peter's!
to the best view of Rome ...



This is the way cool map room (also featured: tapestry room) on the way to the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican Museum... sorry, no pictures are ever allowed of the coolest things in Europe.

Escaping to the countryside!









freakishly well preserved ancient pagan temple!

Villa d'Este
View over Italian countryside.