Italy, part two

This is going to be the most picture heavy in this series, due to what’s it about man. The second day in Rome was very overcast. It was a bummer, but whatever. We came back to Rome on the last two days of the trip and it was much sunnier.

There was so much to see we couldn’t see it all. At one point, when we were driving up to the Colosseum, the tour guide was all, “And that’s where Julius Caesar was murdered, under that archway,” and waved vaguely to our right. I was like What? WHAT. I tore to the right of the bus but by that time it was already past. Bummer. I did get a picture of this triple column thing. I have no idea what it is.

I’ll spare you a picture of the Colosseum with 100 ratty tourists in front of it. Besides I have a better one later. One thing I didn’t know about the Colosseum is that it had layers. Like so. I guess the whole thing is layer built upon layer, and bleachers built between the layers, but I did not know that.

In the following picture you can see the Roman numerals they had for each tunnel. 52 and 53.

Here was some of the remaining marbled detail on the ceiling. Really cool.

Funny story. When we had gotten this far into the place I was so caught up in the Roman numerals and the layers and the marble detail on the ceiling that I completely did not think about how many people had died in this arena. I was just thinking about how many Romans came here and had fun and stuff. And how like the emperor, when he was making sure the whole thing was built well, probably had this awesome private tour. Did not think about dying.

This is the Colosseum (duh) and the forum on the right. Which is where people shopped.

Some church.

I liked this girl’s pants.

This is a picture of me on the Spanish steps. I like the guy who looks completely lost and suffering from heat exhaustion.

Here is a picture of the Spanish steps surrounded by Prada and Bulgari and Gucci. The steps were very crowded so I did not walk up them.

The Trevi fountain was so crowded. It took me forever to get down to the water and throw in a coin and I was afraid I was going to get stolen from.

Look at those crowds. There is an inexplicably empty pocket in the lower right corner but I promise you, that wasn’t there.

I like this picture. It’s a super old column built by Marcus Aurelius, I think, and St. Paul is on top for some reason.

The Pantheon, which was one of my favorite things to see.

That ceiling is original. Incredible. When it rains, water comes through.

Rafael was buried in here. I have a picture of that, but it’s a boring picture.

This door was like 1800 years old, bronze, and they let us touch it.

This is some famous fountain. I probably should have gotten more fountain and less sky.

The end of our second day, leaving Rome. That’s the Vatican.

But wait! Later we came back to Rome and we got to see Where Julius Caesar Was Murdered. So without further ado…

These are not my pictures. The problem is my brother and I saw this place at night and I had camera fatigue. This area was sandwiched between streets. It’s old, old Rome. Cats live here. Tons of cats. While we were standing there, at night, two cats came out and had a mini fight in that square temple thing all the way on the right. Where did Julius die? It’s behind and to the left of the circle temple.

This ends Rome. Next time is Florence and Venice. Then Pompeii.

Look I told you this was picture heavy. I’m sorry, it’s just… Rome.