Photos from Rome

The day we were in Rome, it poured rain all day.  Funny thing, the port of Civitavecchia is nowhere near Rome.  So we had a choice of shuttle, taxi, or train to make our way into Rome.  I had read that the fastest and cheapest was the train.  But by the time we took the bus to the train station, waited for the train (which was about 20 minutes late), and then the train and a couple of metro stops to the Colosseum, 2 hours were gone already, which meant we had just over 4 hours there, before making the 2 hour return trip!  So we had to hustle.

We didn't even have time for lunch, we just grabbed sandwiches from a small shop at the metro, and ate as we travelled.

First stop was the Roman Colosseum.  It was still an impressive structure, even after all these years.

It was interesting to see all the passageways underneath the Colloseum, and a bit sobering to imagine the many men and beasts being led into the arena, many of them to their death.

There was so history in such a small area.  In various directions there were other historic buildings and ruins.

There was this impressive arch next to the Colosseum.

We headed down the road to the Roman Forum, or what remains of it.

I appreciated that seagull posing in the shot.  I waited for him to turn his head to get a nice profile.

Another angle, with no visible seagulls, but with the Colosseum in the background.

There was a building marked as the Temple of Romolo.  Quite different than the other cathedrals we had seen on the trip.

In that same area, there was this Roman bath, still fairly well preserved, it seems.

If we had a few more days, we would have liked to see more in the area, and also would have visited the Vatican and especially the Sistine Chapel.  But we had just enough time to wander a bit further, to this impressive building, which housed a museum...

...complete with guards outside standing in their ponchos in the rain.

So many beautiful architectural details, I didn't know what to focus on...

...but I knew this shot with another posing seagull was a must.

Inside was also very beautiful.

This looked very Roman to me, with the horses and chariot.

There was also a cathedral next to this building, so we stepped inside.  Beautiful.

It's funny, outside the cathedral was a big sign indicating that the entrance was free, and that anyone charging an entrance fee was not legitimate.  But there was also a beggar at the door holding out a dish, saying Grazie to each person entering the church, collecting coins.  I suppose that's what the sign was all about.  We saw this at two different locations, so it seemed that the beggar at the door of the church was a typical fixture of a Roman cathedral.

On the way back, we were all pretty exhausted.  I had the joy of seeing my teenagers sleeping.  It is something I don't get to see very often anymore.  (They'll shoot me when the found out I posted these photos of them.)

So other than the rain and the short timeframe, it was a successful visit to Rome, but we definitely left enough to warrant another visit in future.