Post #8: Rome, Italy

“The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see.”

Here are my Rome, Italy pictures on facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=565507&id=516655073&saved#!/album.php?aid=569162&id=516655073

I actually ended up going to Barcelona, Spain after Paris to meet Brady but I still need to get pictures so I am prolonging that post until another day. 

I haven't posted a blog in awhile because I have been very busy and have fallen behind in my posts in relation to where I am in my travels.  Just a heads up, I am currently in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and hopefully I can finish my Europe posts in the next couple days so I can start blogging about what I am experiencing at the current moment.  I am not going to go into as much depth into my posts and basically will just post pictures that I thought were most significant to that part in my adventures.  This way, I can catch up on my last three blogs :)

We didn't have much time in Rome, only three days, so we decided to do the hop-on-hop-off bus tour.  This is basically a tour that allows you to hop on and off whenever you want and it goes to the best places in the city--from a tourist perspective (lol).  It allowed us to see the Colosseum and Pantheon the first day;  then the second day we were able to explore the Vatican.  The third day, we ended up going to a town out of the city called Marino.  We met some people who were attending college in Rome (lucky) and they suggested that we check out this annual festival in a town outside the city.  It was a wine event with a parade. Not exactly sure what they were celebrating but the wine was cheap and flowing while the pizza was fantastic and cheap.  My camera coincidently died at this point and I don't have any pictures of the events that took place in Marino. 

Going to the Colosseum--built 70AD

Waiting line line--standard procedure in Europe (lol)

Finally inside. My first thought was "where is the floor?"

Then, being the investigators that we are, we came to the conclusion that the floor and grand stands had deteriorated over time

Looking out into the streets from the Colosseum

Couple of stellar dudes

The Pantheon built 120AD

The Pantheon was hard to find.  You are walking down a narrow ally nearly deserted and then BAM, you are hit with a huge building, dome and a bunch of tourists--it pretty much happens instantaneously. The Pantheon was originally built as a temple to all the Gods of ancient Rome. 

The dome has squares hollowed out in it;  not for cosmetic affect, but for structural importance. Apparently, it helps lighten the load around the base of the dome and stops it from collapsing on itself.  It is still the largest unenforced concrete dome in the world.   I didn't know this at the time but approximately 1 month after visiting Rome, I was watching the discovery channel and it coincidently provided these facts about The Pantheon.  So I was able to rip this new found knowledge off the program (lol). 

The next day we headed out to the famous Vatican City--population, just over 800. The Vatican serves as a home for the Pope of the Catholic church.  Not a terrible place to live if I must say so myself. 

St. Peters Basilica, the largest church in the world. This building is considered to be the center of Christianity. Michelangelo designed the dome and many of his famous works are within the church.

The walls to Vatican city.  Would be pretty cool to see one of those street jumpers just scale it no problem. 

This is inside the Vatican on the way to see the Sistine Chapel. 

Here is a picture of the Sistine Chapel--the official residence of the Pope. Michelangelo painted 12,000 square feet (1,100 m2) of the chapel ceiling between 1508 and 1512. Some of the most famous paintings of his ever. The creation of Adam is on the ceiling here as well as The Last Judgment. Just for the record, I didn't take this picture.  Pictures weren't allowed inside but this will give you a general idea. 

The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo.  This was on the roof in the Sistine chapel.  Along with The Last Judgment--another famous work of art. 

Inside the walls of Vatican city. 

Here is a layout of what it is like in Vatican City.  Helps you understand the layout more and what the pictures are referring to. 

Rome was really grand and easily succeeded my expectations.  To see what the Romans could do with concrete was absolutely awe inspiring.  The ability of their culture to take on almost impossible feats did not go unrecognized--as can be proven by the thousands of visitors that frequent these monuments each year.

It was now time to leave Rome and head to Prague, Czech Republic. Where the history would be a lot more relevant to the 20th century and something we would ultimately relate to on a more personal level.