Gladiator Guards
On an audio tour
A lion glimpsed still roaming the grounds
We toured a bunch of ruins right in the middle of the city.
The Roman Forum
And then there were the newer buildings, many made of marble. Interesting how the concept of "new" changes in Europe. 300 years ago they were excavating ruins from 1000 years ago. 200 years ago they were working on remodeling buildings built 500 years ago. And the US is how old?
A government building
View from the balcony of the same building
And another interesting angle
The Vatican Museum was one of the best parts of Rome. So many great paintings! The Sistine Chapel was incredible. The last time Marcy visited (1989) she didn't get to see much because they were restoring it. It was worth the wait.
View of the Vatican from across town
One of the halls inside the museum
Vatican gardens as seen from the cupola
A view of the city from the top of St. Peters
Since we were not allowed to take pictures inside the Sistine Chapel,
John instead captured the amazing Chapel roofing work of Michelangelo's brother, Guido
A mosaic inside the cupola
The "guards" overlooking the plaza in front of St. Peters
One of the interesting items inside the museum, or, a photo taken during the Rome Urban Challenge race
We explored other parts of the city, finding a variety of things to see and do. Nighttime was very pretty, with many of the landmarks lit up.
Marcy liked looking at the hunks
What the heck is that??
A planned street protest that blocked traffic for 5 minutes (we aren't sure what they were protesting)
A mini version of a larger tourist site, and an excellent Urban Challenge answer
On the way back to France, we spent a couple days in a coastal town, walking on the beach and exploring the marble mines. With one side trip to another famous landmark...
It took a little while to find it...
We went for a hike in the Italian Alps and found some old and current marble mines. The hills are being reshaped by all of the work, just think how that must change the contour maps of the area.
An old mining house up in the hills
Mining tools no longer used.
The pulley system was for moving huge, heavy blocks of marble out of the mines and down the mountains to the docks,
at the same time cutting the sides of the next block with the cable.
Ever-changing landscape