Afternoon in Rome

Well I guess this will be my final post.  I have not been able to upload any pictures from Rome or the rest of my trip.

Our last stop before lunch was the Colosseum.  I found myself looking at the structure and the number of bricks it took to make just one arch.  And my thoughts went to the slave who must have made the hundreds of millions of bricks to construct it.  It was a phenomenal feat.

For lunch we ate as a supper club that caters to bus trips at lunch time.  It was an old warehouse right on the river.  We had a nice lunch of salad, lasagna, tiramisu and wine.  They warned us to not drink too much wine as it was still going to get hot (100) and they didn't want anyone passing out.

After lunch we went to the Vatican museum and St. Peter's Cathedral and the Sistine Chapel.  It was wonderful to see all these things but you were like a salmon caught in a spawning stream.  You were just carried along with the crowd.  No stopping and studying.

Tomorrow I am on to a tour of the Coast of the Cinque Terra, then Provence which will be Marseilles, Cassis and Sanary-sur-Mer.

I don't know if it's worth while without the pictures.

Day 10 Rome (the morning)

Decided to break this up as well as it would be photo overload.

We arrived in Rome at 7 am.  This was going to be a full day.  We were off the ship by 6:30 am and back at 6:30 pm. Temps were high 90 to 100 degrees.  But the sites were not terribly crowded.  First we had a bus man's tour of some of the sites like the forum and Rome in general.

I believe this was the Arno valley we went through to get from the port to Rome which was a pretty long drive.  I remembered my father talking about being in the Arno region during the war and though of him often during this day.

 Just never know what you will see.

 This was the building and balcony that Mussolini made this speeches from.

 Need a trough, but use an old sarcophagus.

The first actual walk around of this tour was San Pietro in Vincoli (St. Peter in Chains). Which was built in the 1500's.

This was the relic in the basilica.  The chains that has held St. Peter while he was captive in Jerusalem and the chains that help him in Mamertime Prison in Rome, fused together when Pope Leo 1 was inspecting them.

 This was sculpted by Michael Angelo

This was Michael Angelo's Moses.

Then we were are on the march again.

Something that has always intrigued me wherever I have travel has been doors and door knobs/knockers.  Here were a few we saw during our walk.

Got grapes??

Since I am soo far out from this trip, over 1 year.  I think next posts will be mostly pictures. It will be the afternoon in Rome which was a visit to the Vatican, St Peter Basilica and Museum and the Sistine Chapel. After Rome was Florence/Pisa This was the day that I did the tour of the Coast of Cinque Terra and Portovenere.  Then was Provence where I toured Marseille, cassis and Sanary-sur-Mer and then finally it was back to Barcelona and back home.