I took a lot of photos in Rome, but probably couldn't tell you what is in half of them, except for the occasional tourist type roaming the streets of Rome. We had a very informative tour guide to take us through the streets, and even a little headset for transmitting her Italian accent so everyone could hear her even when we walked away from her or stopped to take a photo. But there was too much bustle in the city and too much crackle over the airways so I didn't catch too much of what she was saying.

I do remember getting sort of lost right after we got off the bus. The whole group of us (two busses worth of people, most of whom have never been to Rome) were supposed to follow some tour guide who we had just met around the corner and down the street, past the Colosseum, try not to stop and take pictures, try not to get run over, and try not to lose the group (by the way our group was only distinguishable from other groups by our large, white lunch bags) and we hadn't yet received our headsets. About half the group went too far and ended up at the Arch of Constantine because that's where our tour was supposed to start. The other half of the group, however, had stopped on the direct opposite side of the Colosseum to eat their lunches. Eventually, a tall Dutchman was able to run around the complex and find them.

Our tour started off slowly, as there was a mad rush for the restrooms which cost half a Euro to use. We piled our empty bags near the only small trash can we could find, left the unfinished ones with a few homeless men, and started our journey through this ancient city of power and prestige. Famous through all the world as the once center of it. It was marvelous!

I think I could have spent hours alone photographing the Colosseum. We didn't have the time to go in. That would have been amazing. Along the way we say hundreds of ruins, some currently being uncovered a layer at a time. Since it is a city that was not just built on top of rock and soil, but instead on top of older ruins, it is difficult to just cut into the side of a hill or dig a hole beneath one important building to get to another important one. Otherwise the whole city would crumble.

The fountains and sculptures were magnificent! The colors of the buildings were rustic and warm all over the place. There were details on everything no matter how old or new it was. It was a relatively clean city for its size which may say a lot about the city itself, or the tourists who come there. There were statues and statuettes of the virgin Mary everywhere all over the place. Throw in a few Egyptian obelisks and the Spanish Steps and we were set! Oh and let's not forget some real Italian pizza which, by the way, is sold by the kilogram. We had gelato and espresso other places, but we tried that as well. I wasn't particularly impressed by the coffee, although Joe's cappuccino was probably the most beautiful one I have ever seen. The gelato was no different than in other parts of the country that we tried. But the pizza, that was something special. It was different than how we are used to in the states, at least in some ways. The sauce was so delicious and there didn't need to be a lot of toppings to make a slice really good. The crust was always thin and crispy. I would definitely eat that again.