Rome
St Peter in Chains

yup, pretty sure that's a saint buried in the floor.


Michaelangelo's Moses

Rome





apparently the actual chains that hung St Peter.

Rome


This was the line to get into the Colosseum. Rome was just full of people, everywhere and all the time

Rome

Rome
The Vatican

yup, that's real mummy skin.

Halls filled with marble statues. It was all a little overwhelming.

Rome

Rome



This is the floor. THE FLOOR. mosaics.
The School of Athens. One of my favorites.
The Pope's rings

Rome





St Peter's Square. The obelisk in the middle of the square pre-dates everything else around. Romans used to use it as a marking spot for chariot races. can't.even.imagine!

Rome

St Peter's Basilica
yes, that is the line to get into the basilica, and then you had to go through metal detectors
A swiss guard
they had all kinds of scaffolding up in front of the church. Somebody like the Pope was speaking the next day ;)

Rome

Michaelangelo's Pieta. AMAZINGLY beautiful. It is now behind bullet proof glass, since some guy tried to hack at it with a knife in the 70's, so you can't get up close, but even fighting for space and looking at it through glass. Amazing. what else can I say??

Bernini's 6 (7?) story bronze altar.

Rome


St Peter- you can kiss his toe and pray for something. You were not supposed to take pictures of this, but I got one before the guards started yelling!


St Mary Angelene Basilica
see the tiny bronze statue thing in the upper right hand corner? there is a hole in there where the sun comes through and shines on the meridian line.