Rome - The Vatican

The main alter of St. Peter's. I love the picture below; it's one of my favorites from the whole trip.  You can see at the bottom, a hand reaching up...it's one of the statues, but I love the feel of it.

Rome - The Vatican

Above: the halls inside the museum.

Below: Paintings by Raphael
Below: Raphael's the School of Athens
Inside St. Peter's, below is the Pieta of Michelangelo

Rome - Vatican museum

Above: The Scraper

Below: Artemis
Below: the Laocoon Group
Below: really awesome statue. Really, I just like the great picture I took of awesome statue....lol
The mosaics are extremely detailed and made with tiny stones. This one decorates the floor...

Rome - to and at the Vatican

Apparently, this building is in the book Angels and Demons...
Below... straight shot view of St. Peter's

Another Panorama from inside St. Peter's Square. I took a video of it as well...
The bottom is a view from inside the Vatican Museum, which is around the block from the complex.

Rome

I'm a horrible blogger and traveler ...I have no idea what this building is.


A couple pictures of the Tiber. We're on our way to Vatican City. It was such a beautiful day.

Rome - Pantheon

Above: the oculus. I couldn't get a good picture of it. If you aren't familiar with the Pantheon, it has a dome that's walls get start thick at the bottom and get thinner at they approach the oculus.  The oculus is that hole at the top of the dome that is the only source of light.  The construction of this dome somewhat of a marvel.  In the panorama below, you can see some of the coffered ceiling.
The statue below is above Raphael's tomb.

This last picture is of St. Peter's from a distance, taken on our walk there. The river is the Tiber.

Rome - Monument and Pantheon

I looked up the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II on wikipedia and found out a bit more about it.  It houses an unknown soldier, commemorating the loss of soldiers during WWI.  Also, apparently the citizens of Rome think it's too large and pompous.  It has the following nicknames, "the wedding cake," "false teeth," and "the typewriter."
The Pantheon. Originally a pagan building, it was traded to the Christian religion by a man who wanted to erect a memorial to himself.  The fact that it was handed over to the Christians is why it's still in such good condition - they didn't destroy it because it was theirs.

Hugs for the Pantheon!