When In Rome (July 2013)

This summer during my marathon Europe trip, I stopped in Rome for 3 days. It was enough time to see lots of fascinating places and get a feel for the city, but I would like to return someday and spend more time there. Seeing all the Roman ruins was just amazing, and I enjoyed a lot of great food. Now on to the pictures!

Just a few pictures of the Colosseum – construction began in 70 AD

Getting married outside the Colosseum, not bad.

Inside the Colosseum – you can see all the passageways underneath the wood floors where lions and bears and wolves were kept to burst out upon the gladiators.

The Roman Forum – the political center of the Roman Empire. Pompeii and Herculaneum were more like “real” cities where everyday people lived. The Forum was where laws were passed and wars were started, etc.

Senate Building

The Pantheon – definitely a highlight. Two thousand years later and not a stone out of place! This building shows the true genius of Roman engineering. To this day it is still the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome!

Trevi Fountain:

History Museum – such an awesome place! The plaques were super descriptive about when and where each piece was uncovered, the types of material used, process of creation. It was fascinating!

Vatican Museum – What a horrible experience! Even after paying extra to skip the line, the inside of the museum was so packed full that you could hardly move a muscle. It made for an extremely unpleasant experience. They should learn a lesson from museums that make guests reserve tickets ahead of time – it cuts down on the crowds and allows you to actually enjoy the museum. But of course since this museum is run by The Church, they want to make as much money as possible so they oversell the tickets and cram everyone into the museum. They got my one-time entrance fee and they’ll never see me back inside that building again. On the other hand, the awesome non-crowded museums in Florence will be receiving my repeat business the next time I come back.