Domenic Abroad: Rome wasn't traveled in a day

Here's a picture of the Colosseum in Rome. During mid-term break in February I decided to go to Rome. I actually decided the week before and reserved everything online.

Here is a picture of the Pantheon in Rome.

One Day I went to The Vatican and the museums there. Here are many pictures of the things that I saw there. We were not allowed to take photos of the Sistine Chapel, but photos were allowed everywhere else. I bought the tickets online and it made it quite easy to go into the Vatican.

I like this painting below. I thought it was nice. There was one museum at the Vatican that had more contemporary art and this was one of the paintings there.

This is a view out the window of one of the museums in the Vatican at the city of Rome.

Angry baby? or just bored...

I sent my parents a postcard from the Vatican post office. Here is a picture I took of the postcard of Pope Francis.

Here is the staircase in the one building.

A picture of the room at the RegiaRoma in Rome. The room was in an apartment near the Termini train station. The room had it's own bathroom. Out in the common area was a kitchen that I could use.

Here is a picture of Termini Station outside my window. Both line A and B of the Metro are at this station. Also, the trains all around Italy leave from here. They are building a line C for the Metro, but it's already been 8 years. Line A and B took a long time. One took 18 years and the other took 25 years. The challenge is that every time they dig in Rome they always hit something of historical significance.

Here are some pictures around Rome.

The trevi fountain under restoration. The fountains in Rome are fed by aquifers. They were built by the Romans and are still working today. There are many places around Rome where there are fountains and you can drink the water! The water is fresh from the mountain springs, it's clean to drink.

A subway car, Rome Style!

Outside and then in the Pantheon. This is a very old building built by the Romans.

I went in Rome near the Barberini Metro Station to the Capuchini Monks. There are the bones of over 4,000 people arranged in interesting and unique designs. It was really neat to see. Photos were not allowed so I bought postcards and took pictures of them. This first postcard is of a skeleton on the ceiling. The scythe in hand shows that everyone will die. The scale shows that everyone will be judged on their deeds in life.

Here are some other nice pics around Rome.

I found out how to get to some of the Catacombs online and took a bus. I walked a few kilometers and then arrived at the Catacombs on Saint Sebastian. I had a beer and sandwich while I waited for my tour to start.

Here is the outside of the church above the catacombs. No photos were allowed inside the catacombs though many people were taking photos which made me a little angry. I thought it was a little disrespectful to those buried there. In the 1920's they found Roman catacombs underneath the church. At this area Saint Peter and another apostle were buried there at one time.

Here is a view from the underground of the Colosseum. I had bought tickets beforehand so I could go all the way to the top and also to the underground area as well. I would say that the tour is definitely worth it. The woman giving the tour was a historian and she told us many facts. The tour was almost 2 hours long as we toured all around the Colosseum. If you don't reserve this tour you can not go to the underground or to the top level. After the tour I walked around the other areas.

The underground was two levels and was completely dark and covered by a floor. Was there boats in the Colosseum? Well there might have been at the opening, but after that these underground levels were built and filling the Colosseum with water wouldn't be possible.

Here you can see a gate. At the white circle in the grass there used to be a fountain and statue. Mussolini had it removed so his military could march through the gate. He also had hills and historic sights removed so there was a straight away from the Colosseum to his governmental buildings.

A cat at the Coloseum.

Below is a thing that would operate an elevator. Slaves would turn wheels to raise animals and people to the floor of the Colosseum.

They built some of the floor to cover the underground levels. As part of the tour we were below that floor and on it as well.

One night I went on a ghost and mystery tour. Most of the tour was about the history and mysteries of Rome.

The next few photos are from a church right next to the river. Every year the river would flood at least once, if not more. When the river would flood many of the dead bodies and bones would float out of the church and into the streets. The people in the church started labeling the bones so they could retrieve them after the river flooded every year.

Notice the skulls over the church door.

One day I did a tour that left from Rome to Naples and Pompeii. Some of the pictures are from the museum in Naples which has many things from Pompeii. Some of the pictures are from Pompeii itself. Here are some of the faces from the frescoes on the walls.

Here is the shape of a person that died in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Archaeologists poured plaster into the void left by the person's body. The person's bones are stuck in the plaster too.

Here is a road in Pompeii. You can see where the wagons wore ruts into the stones.

Here is where the gladiators trained.

The amphitheater.

They still have shows here.

This is the ruins of a fast food store. Ready made food would be in these circular shapes.

It's neat that you can walk the ancient streets.

Here are some pics from some villas in Pompeii.

In the glass box are some skeletons of two people that dug down through the ash after the disaster to try to rob and steal stuff from the villa. They dug down and dug a hole in the wall to break in. They died somehow.

Here is the only remaining ceiling in Pompeii. It is an arch ceiling in the bathhouse. The rest of the ceilings and roofs collapsed under the weight of the ash from the volcano.

A water fountain.

Here is a picture of Mount Vesuvius erupting during World War II. A fighter pilot took a picture of the eruption.

Here is a penis carved into the road that showed the direction to what out tour guide called, "The Happy Place" The happy place was where sailors arriving could go to have a good time. There were many interesting frescoes and statues of a sexual nature at the museum from Pompeii. I will show those at the end of the blog in case you don't want to see them.