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After Venice, Mom and I continued our Italian odyssey (I guess that should be an "aeneid" -- figure out the classical reference for yourself) with a tour of Rome. We had two full days here, not nearly enough time for everything of course, so we booked a couple of tours with an outfit called Appian Tours. This time our hotel, Hotel Rivoli, was quite comfortable and located in a nice area uphill from the Villa Borghese.
The day started out rainy, but after a few hours the sun came out and the rest of the day was cloudless, beautfiul and hot.
Above is the Trevi Fountain, originally a well in a fork in the road. Caesar was murdered nearby. The present fountain (shown above) was designed by Nicola Salvi in 1762 as an allegory of the sea.
Egyptian obelisk in front of the Pantheon. Uh, it's from Egypt.
This is the Pantheon. I thought this was totally bogus because there were no Roman gods inside after all, only images of St. Paul. But the original building, built by Julius Caesar's pal Agrippa, survives because it was converted into a cathedral.
Here's our guide showing us the front of the palace of the Borgias. The family still owns the Villa Borghese, a big chunk of downtown Rome.
Our guide kept making corny jokes and saying, "Can you imagine?"
This is the Piazza della Navona. This whole area used to be a big pool with enough water to stage fights between boats.
This wall, one of the later walls of Rome (2nd century AD), separates Italy from the Vatican.
Mom pauses for a photo op in front of St. Peter's Square.
Today was a special day in the Vatican because the Pope was beatifying a couple, the first time that had happened. He was inside the cathedral officiating over the ceremony.
We got to watch on wide-screen TV outside.
Blurry snapshot of the Roman Forums (there were several, not just one, and they're not the same thing as the Colosseum -- shows what I know)
This is the church that houses the tomb of St. Peter. Despite being destroyed in a fire, the shrine inside that houses the saint's remains were untouched.
I took a bunch of pictures of the inside of the basilica but none of them turned out.
The Moorish Courtyard inside the same basilica. A basilica is just a cathedral with columns -- did you know that?
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