Map of Rome.  We stayed at the Westin Excelsior Roma on the Via Veneto.

5/14/04

We walked to the Spanish Steps.

And they just met at Gucci’s

Taken from the previous spot with a 10X zoom.

5/15/05

We line up to get into the Vatican.

In Saint Peters Basilica is Michelangelo’s Pieta.

People were saying that the 24 year-old Michelangelo didn’t sculpt the Pieta, so he inscribed the Madonna’s breast with the message “This was sculpted by Michelangelo.”

|White smoke coming out of a small chimney on the triangular roof, in the middle, signifies that the College of Cardinals has selected a new pope.

The Trevi Fountain

Michelangelo’s Moses, done for the tomb of his major patron, Pope Julius II.

The cones on his head represent cones of light the signified Moses’ enlightment.

He is tensed, offended at the Hebrews worshipping the golden calf.  He is about to stand and smash the tablets.

The Coliseum, which was stripped of it marble and travertine to make the homes of the rich of Rome.

There were gladiatorial battles.  The feeding the Christians to the lions took place in Circus Maximus.

The Arch of Titus.

It celebrated the Romans sacking of Jerusalem in 70 B.C.

Note the gold menorah being carried by he Romans.

Cliff and an Italian carabinieri who guards the Rome Synagogue.

The remains of a temple next door.

The Pantheon, which used to celebrate the Roman gods.

The oculus, into which little rain falls.

The Pantheon was the inspiration for Michalangelo, who designed St. Peters and Brunelleschi, who did the dome on Il Duomo in Florence.  

The Pantheon is now a Catholic church.