section of the Pantheon.

This is actually how it looked through the openings in this Roman Aquaduct.

Tiber River

You can see the partial rebuilt floor of the coliseum and underneath the various pens where the gladiators and animals were kept. Unreal.

Pantheon

OK, so you thought the Smart car was tiny? Guess again. Btw- the Smart car in Italy is about as popular as the Honda Accord in the US. It's so small that you'll actually see some people park them perpendicular to the curb instead of parallel. I'm not kidding. It still fits without protruding out too far into the street.

I think Roman soldier I think conquoring and killing.

Circus Maximus - This is where the Roman's conducted chariot racing. The first one to circle this dirt track six times was the winner. amazing. The structure in the background was part of the grandstand. Think Ben Hur.

At the height of the Roman empire they controlled this much area of Europe, Africa and Asia. Incredible.

If you turned to the right you'd be facing the Pantheon.

A scooter in Italy is as popular as the ipod in the US. Everyone's got one.

St. Peter's Basilica. I actually snapped this from a moving bus.

Trevi Fountain

Trevi Fountain

Supposedly this street was ordered to be widened by Mussolini, and so it was.

This appeard to be legal parking for a Smart Car.

Roman Forum

Trevi Fountain

Inside the Pantheon. This place was pretty impressive and if you consider this was built in 126AD, it's just mind boggling.

Guess where I am?

Extra "Sweet" Cappuccino.

The Vatican - St. Peter's Basilica

Another Hard Rock pic.

The white marble Arch of Septimius Severus (Italian: Arco di Settimio Severo) at the northeast end of the Roman Forum is a triumphal arch dedicated in AD 203 to commemorate the Parthian victories of Emperor Septimius Severus and his two sons, Caracalla and Geta, in the two campaigns against the Parthians of 194/195 and 197-199. After the death of Septimius Severus, his sons Caracalla and Geta were initially joint emperors. Caracalla had Geta assassinated in 212; Geta's memorials were destroyed and all images or mentions of him were removed from public buildings and monuments. Accordingly Geta's image and inscriptions referring to him were removed from the arch.

Coliseum- The new meets the old. It appears that this wall was added to sure up some crumbling areas of the outer section. The person at the bottom right gives some scale to its height.

These nuns were cute how they were handing off their little camera to each other so they could have their picture taken individually in front of St Peter's.

St. Peter. Looks like he's had a few pigeon visitors too.

Hangin with the Pope and his peeps

Virgin Mary room in the Vatican museum

Vatican museum

one of the many ornate ceilings of the Vatican museum. This one in particular was made of wood and i would doubt if that's not gold paint on it.

Inside the Vatican museum. Each Pope added on a wing to the Vatican's "art collection" This one was called the Map room because the walls were adorned with maps of various parts of the world. The ceiling was the most interesting part. All of that is hand done and insanly detailed with raised stone carved moldings around each image. there's another picture in my photo gallery of Rome that shows an up close of this ceiling detail.

The Vatican is a county and is the smallest one in the world.

Swiss guard

One of the many statues in the Vatican museum

I would estimate that you could take 5 St. Patrick's cathedrals and put them inside St. Peter's. It's a bit absurd how big this place is. No church in the world is allowed to be bigger than this one. It's the law! If you want to know where that dollar you drop into the basket goes every Sunday. Here it is.

They say the pope's room is out there on the upper right.

Inside the Vatican