Day 1: We took the train from the airport  to Rome and found our way to our hotel room at Papa Germano, where we dropped our gear and then we were off......
 

The first thing we noticed was an abundance of scooters. They were everywhere and of every design imaginable!

Designed by an Italian, paid for by the French, named for the Spaniards, occupied by the British, and under the sway of American ambassador Ronald McDonald. Built in 1725.

Doug and Roy take a break, after 15 hours of flying and one hour sleep.

Piazza del Popolo

Once a favorite place for executions the square is now called the "peoples square"

At the southern end of the Piazza del Popolo are the twin churches of Santa Maria di Montesano and Santa Maria dei Miracoli

Fontana de Trevi.
This was certainly a hot spot for tourists. Even at night there were tons of people eating gelato and sitting around the fountain.

Distractions everywhere. The Rome women are gorgeous.

A safe place to wait till the road was clear to cross. I think the road in front of this church  was a drag strip for all the motor scooters in Rome. It was like being at the race track, engines roaring and scooters flying everywhere.

All the streets are cobbled from different eras.

Now that's a pizza!

Day 2:

Having slept in to recover from jetlag, we decided to head towards the Colosseum and other local sites.  The Vatican would just have to wait.

Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
Officially part of the Vatican City. Originally built in 352, Pope Sixtus III commissioned the basilica when he noticed that Roman women were still visiting a temple to the pagan mother - goddess Juno Lucina. Sixtus then tore it down and built a new basilica and substituted a Christian cult for a pagan one.

Statues in the Basilica

The Colosseum stands as the enduring symbol of the Eternal City. It dwarfs every other ruin in Rome.

Constantine built the arch to commemorate his victory over Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in AD 312, using fragments from monuments built by emperors Trajan, Hadrain, and Marcus Aurelius, creating the triple arch.

Palatine Hill

The Palatine Hill lies between the Tiber River and the Forum. The Forum was originally a low laying swamp land and was often flooded by the Tiber so during Rome's Iron age the inhabitants lived on the hill. The hill was also home to the she-wolf that suckled Romulus and Remus. It was here that Romulus built the first walls of the city. During the Republic, the Palatine was the city's most fashionable residential quarter, where aristocrats and statesmen, including Cicero and Marc Antony, built their homes. Later emperors capitalized on the hill's prestige, building themselves gargantuan quarters. By the end of the first century, the imperial residence swallowed up the entire hill.

The Forum - In the 7th and 8th centuries BC, Etruscans and Greeks used the Forum as a weekly market. The people who would soon be known as the Romans founded a thatched-hut shanty-town on the site of the Forum 753 BC. Now the Forum bears witness to centuries of civic building.

The Vestal Virgins tended the city's eternal, sacred fire, keeping it continuously lit for over a thousand years. The Vestal Virgins were among the most respected people in Ancient Rome. For 30 years, the six virgins who officiated over Vesta's rites, each ordained at the age of seven, lived in spacious seclusion above the Forum. They were the only women allowed to walk unaccompanied in the Forum and possessed the right to pardon prisoners. This esteem had its price; a virgin who strayed from celibacy was buried alive with a loaf of bread and a candle- to allow her to survive long enough to contemplate her sins.

Arch of Titus, built in AD 81 by Domitian to celebrate his brother Titus, who destroyed Jerusalem 11 yrs earlier.

Museo Nazionale del Palazzo Venezia
OR Mon A Vittorio Emanuele II on the Piazza Venizia?
(We're not sure which this is)

Some elaborate building with guards outside.

Piazza Venezia and Via Del Corso
Via del Corso was Rome's premier racecourse. It runs nearly a mile between P. del Popolo and the     P. Venezia
 

On the way home the boys did a little shirt shopping. Don Cherry would be in his glory, check out those collars.

Day 3: Todays the big day. The Vatican and St. Peters Basilica. It took us a while to figure out where to get onto the Metro but eventually we pushed and shoved with the rest of the locals and were on our way across town.

There were limited places where we could take pictures so you'll just have to go yourself to see the rest. We passed through the Galleria degli Arazzi (tapestries), the Galleria delle Mappe (maps), the Apartamento di PioV, the Stanza Sobieski, and the Stanza della Immaculate Concezione on the way to the Sistine Chapel.

From the Room of the Immaculate Conception, a door leads into the first of the four Stanze di Rafaele, apartments built for Pope Julius II in the 1510's. Raphael painted a trial piece for Julius, who was so impressed that he fired his other painters, had their frescoes destroyed, and commissioned Raphael to decorate the entire suite. (I personally enjoyed Raphael's paintings)

Vatican City -Occupies 108.5 independent acres entirely within the boundaries of Rome and is the foothold of the Catholic Church. The nation preserves its independence by minting coins with the Pope's face, running a separate postal system, maintaining an army of Swiss Guards, and hording fine art in the Vatican Museums.

We went to have tea with the Pope, but wouldn't you know it. He stood us up. We had to settle for a bunch of nuns.

The statues on the top of the Basilica represent Christ (center), John the Baptist and the Apostles (except for Peter).

The Basilica rests on the reputed site of St. Peter's tomb.

The interior of St. Peter's measures 186 cm by 137 cm along the transepts. Lighting was poor so any pictures hardly do the grandeur justice. The marble floors were as impressive as the paintings.

After climbing 350 stairs to the top of the Cupola (see arrow) we had an excellent view of the piazza, The Vatican gardens, Rome's skyline and the Vatican itself (square building lower right).

The Piazza Novona was used to house wrestling matches, chariot races, and mock naval battles, with the stadium flooded and fleets skippered by convicts. (The mock naval battles, using convicts, went to death)
Fountain of the Four Rivers Each of the four river gods represents one of the four continents of the globe; the Ganges for Asia, the Danube for Europe, the Nile for Africa and the Rio de la Plata for the Americas.

Pantheon With granite columns, bronze doors, and a soaring domed interior, the Pantheion has remained remarkably similar since it was built nearly 2000 years ago. The domed ceiling is open to the elements and there are drain holes in the marble floor to allow the rain water to drain off. It's official name is Church of Santa Maria ad Martyres.

I'd say the boy's are done!