When in Rome...

Do as the Romans do!

The Colosseum, Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum

We figured we would save the biggest attractions of Rome for our last week there and end on a high note, so pretty much the day before we left we ventured out to see the most famous sights of Rome.  First stop: The Colosseum (which I learned is actually called the Flavian Ampitheater).

These pretty roses were in the park we walked through on our way to the Colosseum :)

Colosseum!

 As we wandered around the place we took in just how huge it is.  Though not as pristine and pretty as the one we saw in Pula, it was definitely bigger.  It really was an amazing feat for those ancient Romans to have built something so massive!

 While looking out over one of the railings we saw this guy hanging out in the sunshine :)

We took some time to pose on some ancient column pieces and I did my best to ruin some of Erin's photos :P




 On the upper floor there is a display showing what the area looked like pre-colosseum before the Great Fire of Rome (it was built on an area that used to be a huge palace pool!), as well as what it looked like back in its hay-day.  It used to have these shade sail things that extended out over the center, I wish they were still there, how cool are they!

 Soon we made our way out of the Colosseum and over to Palatine Hill, and passed by the Arch of Constantine on the way. 

Palatine is the central "hill of Rome" (there are seven hills apparently), and is between Circo Massimo (where we saw those awesome Gladiator reenactments) and the Forum.  

sitting under the huge tree

One of my favorite things about Rome, the poppies everywhere!

Before long we had walked over to the Forum, and took a stroll down the most famous ancient Roman street.

We snapped a picture of us outside the Colosseum on our way home.

The Vatican

We also went to visit the Vatican the last week we were in Rome.

We weren't exactly sure of the best way to go about visiting this place so we just took the subway down there and figured it out as we went.  Walking down the street from the subway station to St. Peter's square was an interesting experience.  I don't think we went 2 feet without someone approaching us and offering guided tours, one guy went so far as to tell us the church was closed and the only way we could see it was a guided tour.  Don't fall for it.  We walked over to the square, waited in the (actually incredibly short) line (along with the tour groups, may I add) and went in freely.

   

The inside of St. Peter's was beautiful and Erin took a picture of each and every dome there I think.

As we walked out we had another case of impeccable timing and saw the Vatican guards changing.  Just look at those sweet uniforms.  Here's a video for your viewing pleasure.

When I said before that the line we waited in was incredibly short, it was because we realized this when we left the basilica and the line to get in had grown to stretch almost the entire way around St. Peter's square.  Boy did we luck out by getting to wait in a line that was about 1/8 of this size.

crazy line all the way around the square (which is actually round)

After we saw the Basilica we went over to the Vatican museums.





In the main courtyard there is this huge metal ball sculpture, that was actually my favorite thing from the whole Vatican experience.

Just when I thought I couldn't like it more, a tour guide lady walked up to it and spun it! Wow! It did get cooler.  (Disclaimer, I was entranced by it and didn't get the video until it slowed down and was almost stopped so it doesn't do it justice really, but you get the idea)

The Vatican has a series of museums and to get to the famous Sistine Chapel you walk through just about all of them.  There are some areas with traditional art and sculptures.

An Egyptian artifact museum complete with a Sarcophagus of Imotep and canoptic jars.

And long hallways with elaborate ceilings and art-filled walls. My favorite was this map lined hallway.

Then you start descending stairs to get to the Sistine Chapel and pass some pretty cool things, like this Thinker.


Finally after you wind though several rooms, including the Raphael Wing, you get to the area right before the Chapel, with several modern art pieces by artists like Matisse and Dali, which was my next favorite part of the Vatican after the amazing spinning ball sculpture outside :)

  huge paintings by Matisse

not my picture but a pretty view of the chapel

The Sistine chapel was extremely crowded and did not allow pictures, but we were surprised to see how small the famous Creation of Adam painting was, as it is just one section of many on the ceiling and the much more prominent part was the huge wall was dedicated to the (also famous) Last Judgment by Michelangelo.  Here's a pretty cool virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel if you want to see it.

On the way out they had some more neat things, like some astronomy spheres that Erin's always interested in looking at.  

And we even caught a glimpse of the Pope ;)  

Probably tied as my second favorite thing at the Vatican is this staircase you leave through.  I love spiral staircases for some reason and this is like the mother of all of them.  Holy-huge-double-layered embellished-goodness of a staircase Batman!  Pretty awesome.

And to close, here are the doors of the museum (that was closed on our way out) that we liked.

That's about it for Rome and Italy!  Our next move was possibly influenced by the fact that our apartment had a poster of the Montmarte Steps and an Eiffel Tower picture in it, and probably more so  by the fact that Erin's always had a love for Paris.  That's right folks, our adventure takes us to France next where we're spending a month in lovely Paris!  More posts to come soon! Ciao!