Tuesday, January 23, 2007

When in Rome....

Okay, I know I've been home for 2 weeks now, so its time to stop procrastinating and post some pictures! Here are a few shots from my adventures in Rome.

Let's start with some ruins....these are two pictures of the ruins of the Forum. Broken pieces of marble columns everywhere!

I'm pretty sure they probably didn't appreciate us climbing on the ruins, but since when do MBA's care what anyone else thinks? :)


Cool Roman architecture and a perfectly blue sky can make ANYONE feel like an artist!

The Circus Maximus....thats where they used to have Chariot races!
We didn't have any chariots, so Shelly and I decided that skipping would have to do for our race!
Ben and I decided that this statue needed his foot tickled....
The Trevi Fountain. Yes I threw in the coins to make a wish, to ensure my return to Rome someday, and to give me a safe journey home and no I won't tell you what my wish was!


You know how you always see the Trevi Fountain in movies with just a couple of people milling around leaving plenty of room for the main characters to have their private romantic moment? Yeah right! This was the crowd at about 4:30 pm on a random Wednesday afternoon!


In front of the Vatican. Of course, the only picture I took with me in it there has my eyes closed! Inside the Vatican is absolutely beautiful, but most of my pictures were taken vertically because the ceilings are so tall, so I can't post them here! It was really cool to see.
View from the steps of St. Peter's Basilica
The ceiling of St. Peter's Basilica. I would have taken a picture of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, but then I'd still be in Rome stuck in jail cause its illegal. Didn't stop other people in our group from taking pictures of it though! Ha!
The main thing I learned in Rome was that everything that has even the SLIGHTEST bit of interesting Roman history (as in from the era of the Caesars) was taken over by the Catholics and either destroyed to make the Vatican or turned into a Catholic church. Case in point - the Panthenon. I was so excited to see the temple of the Roman gods, but when I got inside, found out its been turned into some Catholic altar! Booooo!
The Colosseum. Nuff said.
Cool Roman architecture and a perfectly blue sky can make ANYONE feel like an artist!
Inside the Colosseum. It apparently used to be REALLY pretty inside with all sorts of marble structures, but then the Popes took all the the marble and destroyed everything to build the Vatican. :)

You can see the tunnels where the gladiators used to be before they would come out for the "bloody bloody horrible games" (thats what our tour guide kept saying over and over!)
On Palatine Hill - the hill were Romulus founded Rome and where Domitian's palace was. It was the biggest palace ever built by a Roman emperor and now bits and pieces of it are left.
Domitian had his own arena INSIDE his palace! He would have chariot races there and every now and then would divert the aquaduct, flood the arena, and hold mock naval battles with real ships! Kinda makes Patty and Wade's theater room seem a bit unimpressive, huh?
And of course, what trip to Italy would be complete with some gelato? Any country where eating ice cream in January is considered normal is alright with me!
Well, that's all for now! I have several pictures that I need to get from other peoples' cameras, so there may be another Rome post or two. Hope you enjoyed some pictures....I know I enjoyed taking them!!

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Beautiful pics!! Can't wait till we get to go someday...you made me want to go NOW so bad! :) Can have 3 trys at guessing what your wish was?? :)

Emily said...

You can guess all you want... :)

Lynn Leaming said...

Emily,
What a nice surprise to hear from you today on my blog! Then to go to your blog and see your pictures. Seems like an amazing trip! It was great seeing Patty and Trey at CEC in Fort Worth. I am hanging in there. Just really ready to get this frame off my leg, but try to be thankful that at least I am mobile. I will look forward to keeping in touch!

Ashley N said...

Yay! Love the pictures!

stacey4 said...

Awesome! Wonderful pictures!!!

Joanie said...

Emily - love the pics - what a gorgeous place!