Rome

"Allaro, allaro, andiamo!" (loosely translated "and so on, let's go!") Our guide kept us going with her colorful literary on the sites of Rome, or should I say the very little we were able to see in one day.

She also made it very clear that the Bacilica IS THE GRANDEST CHURCH EVER BUILT, parts of the Forum are 2,800 years old, Michelangelo is almost a deity and Rome is Capita Mundi (the capitol of the world)! While I don't agree with her on all points, Rome is an amazing city!!

The Forum is very impressive and HUGE! It is hard to piece it all together as a lot of it has been pillaged over the years and reused throughout the city. Parts of the Vatican were made from the marble taken from the forum. The Basilica does take your breath away when you walk in and it is very decadent! The statues are beautiful and the mosaics are almost unbelievable. How you can accomplish the richness of color and precision with tile is beyond me!

The coliseum was most impressive! It is a little sobering to think of all of the slaves who gave their lives building it and all of those who were killed in the arena in the name of entertainment but the structure is amazing…..they could empty the entire coliseum inside of 6 minutes, safely. We could take a lesson from that.

Rome was hot but worth every minute! Bellisimo!

Ciao!

Toni