Roma!

Rome wasn't built in a day, and there was no way we could see all of it in just one. Our day in Rome started off like National Lampoon's European Vacation. You know the scene where they are driving around in circles and saying "Big Ben! Parliament! Big Ben! Parliament!" Yeah, kind of like this.

Only it was the Rome version:

Coliseum!

Roman Forum!

Coliseum!

Roman Forum!

Surprisingly, we didn't stop at either the Coliseum OR the Roman Forum. But we did stop at the Circus

This is where the chariot races were held. On the right side are many palaces from circa 900 AD. really, really old!

Here are some of those palaces:

We continued our tour of Rome and passed this pyramid. I love the cars + ancient pyramid here - quite the contrast!

Our next stop was Trevi Fountain, where we threw our coins in.

It's in a small square, and boy, is it CROWDED!

We walked a few blocks to our next stop - the Parthenon

The interior:

In the midst of all the antiquities, we saw this shop

In the something you don't see every day file: the green shuttered balcony is the apartment where Napolean's mother lived.

Another oddity: Roman gas stations:

You just pull off onto the shoulder of the road, gas & go. No super 7-11's, here!

Here are some other sites in Rome:

Smart cars were all over Rome. And they parked them anywhere they could find a couple feet of space:

And this was just the morning!!

Stay tuned - we spent the afternoon (the ENTIRE afternoon) at the Vatican.

Enjoy your new day!