Rome

Day 1...Pisa then Rome. relaxed, had a kebab and reflected...

(Full) day 2. Walked for 7 hours and saw a ton! Tomorrow is my last day and I will tour the underground at the Colosseum

St. John Lateran Archbasilica

It is the oldest and ranks first among the five Papal Basilicas of the world

  I wasn't allowed inside due to my shorts and lack of sleeves....

Across the street was the Sancta Scala or Holy Stairs, and the Sancta Sanctorum, previously part of the Lateran Palace and served as the Pope's private chapel.

The Lateran Obelisk is the largest standing ancient Egyptian obelisk in the world, sweet!

Caracalla Metella Quintili... Baths of Caracalla

the second largest Roman public baths built in Rome between AD 212 and 217

These tiles... so tiny and cover such a vast area... amazing!

Tile mosaics 

Still holdin' on...

Big McLarge Huge!

Guard cat on patrol!

Circus Maximus. A place Christians were more likely to have been persecuted for a show (that was NOT the case in the Colosseum)  and also... chariot races! 

Found another invader!!

This is why walking is the best way to see the sites. You don't always miss the small stuff.

Baby havin' a swim.... downstream from the Vatican

Trying to get to the Vatican I went up a wrong street... uphill.. yeesh! So before the trek back down I had a sit in the shade.

Commotion on the bridge.. there was a helicopter circling as well... hmm

Not sure if someone fell or jumped off.  Later that night I had a dream the ado was about a wire, dome bird cage with someone's prized bird in it... sorry, it ded.

St. Peter's Basilica in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican City

I have an awesome panorama but they don't show up on the blog. I'll try to remember to post it in the FB comment section of this post.

Castel Sant'Angelo

Originally a mausoleum then a Papal fortress, residence and prison, and now it is a museum.

Palace of Justice at Piazza Cavour

Tell it, pal!

Day 3: Colloseum backstage tour

Arch of Constantine

WOW!

Our entrance was the exit of the dead.  The floor is a reconstruction (obviously) but the floor used to span the whole arena. It was made of wood and covered with sand to help soak up the blood.  The entry way directly across was the entrance for the gladiators (cue Julius Fučík's piece).  Exotic animals were slain (more exotic the animal, the "better" the sponsor) and there were pulley systems all around the underground in order to hoist them into the arena from unpredictable locations.

This shows the underground.. originally covered with that wood floor aforementioned.

Very tight corridors and not easy to get around. 

I didn't take a lot of photos on this tour but what really amazed me were the huge stones in place.. all held together by pressure and not cement. There must not be any tectonic plates over here... really mind-blowing.... The Colosseum. wow.

In the middle ages it was inhabited by the poor and was a huge shanty town. How awesome would that have been?!

I really loved all of this and I am bummed I was on a tight schedule and didn't have time to wander more after the tour.  Instead I once again hauled ass to the metro, picked up my stored bag, and made my train to Salerno.