CN Tower
Niagara Falls
Golden Gate
Mt. Fuji
Great Wall
Grand Canyon
Hoover Dam
Pyramids
Petra
Colosseum
Leaning Tower
Parthenon
Stonehenge
Big Ben
The Chunnel
Eiffel Tower
Mt. St.Michel
Empire St Bld

Alaska glacier
Tokyo Tower
Forbidden City
Sum'r Palace
LaBufadora
Bilbao Museo
BlarneyStone
Disney Paris

COLOSSEUM
	This Forgotten Wonder of the World is maybe not so Forgotten if you've seen Gladiator.   But my tour guide says the movie got it wrong: Russel Crowe wouldn't have his gang because gladiators fought one-on-one.
If they gave a good performance, the gladiator-slaves could advance, or even be re-integrated into society as a famous gladiator.  The Colosseum floor was wooden, allowing gladiators and animals to pop-up via complex pulley-and-lever machnery, much to the surprise of the gladiator and cheers of the crowd.  But after a few hundred years, the pagan games got a little out-of-hand with too-bloody or obscene fights, and mock naval combats (by flooding the basement).  Like the XFL.  The Colosseum closed, and even used as a rock quarry for St. Peter's Basilica.  But the Church stuck a cross in the Colosseum, claiming it as religious turf to save it, and now thousands tourists run through the gladiator gates every day.

Spanish Steps
Keats loved the Spanish Steps, and so do dozens of Roman teens

 who hang out there every night.  I hang out there for an hour one night to watch the scene - it's pretty fun watching the tourists go by with this wide-eye look.  And we randomly catch the Olsen twins filming.

Vatican City
We stop by the Vatican for a view of Michaelangelo's work in the Sistene Chapel.  Our audio guide tells Michaelangelo painstakingly painted the huge mural showing Judgement Day.  We later find out that cardinals hit M'angelo with sticks to hurry him up, so he painted the Cardinals' faces on the damned souls at the bottom of the painting.  Crafty guy. 

St. Peter's Basilica is built on St. Peter the Original Rock.

We also take a tour of St. Peter's Basilica.  Seeing all these sites in a week helps put the apostle picture together.  After the Resurrection, the apostle band broke up and the eleven went off to spread the Word.  St. Peter, and later St. Paul, came to the Vatican.  In fact, Peter derives from Petra, rock in Greek, because Peter was chosen to be the foundation for the Church.  And he is - literally.  The Basilica was built (supposedly) on his tomb.  St. Mark went off to Venice so we get San Marco Square, and St. John and Mary went to Ephesus, which I visited a few years ago.

Victor Emmanual Monument
You never really hear about this monument to Italy's leader who helped unify it and make it a country that's all, thanks.

But it's right in the center of town so here's some credit.  By the way, Emmanuel's tomb is in the...

Pantheon

Jen gets a guided tour of the Pantheon because she asks.  No signs posted, but Jen finds out you can get free one-on-one tours.  Jen learns the Parthenon dome was amazing construction for its time, with no arches or other support for its perfect dome.

The dome has a hole at the top; the building was used as a sundial.  And yes, there's a complex systems of water ducts to drain the water when it rains.

Roman Forum

Orators spoke from the Forum.  Legend has it that the cave where the She-wolf raised Rome's founders Romulus and Remus is at the base of the hill on the left.  Nearby is the Palatine Hill, where Augustus and the wealthy Romans lived.  Big mansions with views, like Beverly Hills.  I wonder if there will be tours of the Spelling mansion or the Playboy Mansion some day, with the tour guides saying "This one of Hugh's several bedrooms where he...." OK, you get the point.

Trevi Fountain
Rome's famous Trevi Fountain attracts tourists like an oasis.

Capuchin Crypt
Jen and I don't like horror movies, but we decide to check out the Capuchin Crypt at the Church of the Immaculate Conception.  Big mistake.  The crypt features the bones of 4000 Capuchin friars decorating a crypt like an Undead Better Homes and Gardens.  Archways are made out of hundreds of human skulls stacked on top of each other.  Chandeliers made of finger bones, fibia and tibia hang above.  Vertebrae arranged in deocrative patterns crawl along every inch of the wall and ceiling.  Bone angels with scapula as wings fly overhead with an inscription "What you are now we used to be, what we are now you will be."  And a few hooded skeletons are standing around making it look like a Grim Reaper's cocktail party.  If these capuchin friars were around today and this crypt was discovered, they'd go straight to jail, but now, it's a tourist destination.  By the way, capuchin means hood, like the ones these monks wore, which is how we get cappuccino (foam hooded?).  I start to look at the many cappuccinos I've been sucking down a bit differently after this visit...

2755th Birthday
How do you celebrate your 2755th birthday?  I stop by to join in on Rome's Sunday festivities, even though most locals don't seem to mind much.  I guess when you're that old, it really doesn't matter. The celebration includes a week festival of free concerts in plazas and parks, capped off by a fireworks show.   

A local band plays traditional Rome and Italian songs to celebrate in the Campidoglio.

Video Game Break
I take a break from looking at the Forum ruins to check out the just-arrived-in-town videogame exhibition at the museum.  The exhibition traces the history of video games, from Pong and Pac Man to Mario, Lara Croft and Silent Snake.  There are also old Atari 2600s and Intellivisions in display cases.  It's very freaky seeing 20 year-old stuff I played with as a kid sitting in museum display cases, especially after visiting museums with 2000-year old stuff.  It must be the same feeling an ancient Roman would get if he saw me looking at the pottery he used every day in the Palatine Hill museum near the Forum.

Ancient Romans Job Descriptions
It's a good thing many of the Ancient Romans weren't living today, or else they'd encounter much different job titles for what they do:

Job Description	Ancient Rome	Today
Designs houses, buildings	Architect	Architect
Puts images of partially, totally nude well-sculpted bodies on public display	Sculptor	Advertising exec for underwear, beer, or chewing gum
Creates and paints pottery	Amphora potter	Grade school arts teacher
Paints nakes babies on the ceiling	Renaissance cherub painter	Pedophile
Discusses personal philosophies in public places	Orator, philosopher	Crazy guy you cross the street to avoid.

Sexy Advertising.  You think our media and advertising was sexy, you ain´t seen nothing til you seen Italian ads.  Just about any ad for a women´s product from deoderant to bras features sexy women.  Even the Jeopardy-style teen game show features about 50 shiny bikini-clad women (and a few token guys) whose only purpose is to giggle, dance, and applaud whenever the contestants score.  Even the movie ads are racier - the ad for 40 Days and 40 nights features Josh Hartnett sitting amongst a sea of sexy legs, much racier than what we got in the U.S.  And forget comedians; late night TV here includes free Spice channels.

NIGHTLIFE.  One night, Jen and I check out Club Latino in the artsy Trastevere area (it´s not just the name of the Italian restaurant on 3rd St. Promenade), to catch cheesey ballads from the Italian 70s night.  We up the class ante only a little bit by going to an opera best-hits performance where the singers dress up in opera costumes -  but without the confusing story line.  This one lady sings a Don Giovanni song so high I think she´ll shatter every piece of glass in St. Bartolomew´s church 2-story high stained glass windows.   Another night, Jen, going home after shopping, dodging catcalls of the omnipresent bands of always-four Italian teen boys wearing the same denim jeans-and-jacket uniform.  Jen says she much prefers the dark blue-uniformed "gorgeous" Italian polizia, and gets lost a few times in the city - I think just so she can ask the polizia for directions.  Another night, I chill out at the Spanish Steps, without the Olson twins.

Bye Jen!  After joining me on our whirlwind Italy tour through 5 cities in 10 days, Jen's exhilirated and bummed she's going back home.  Or maybe she's just bummed about her first blister she got from all the walking around.  Most of her vacations have been Beach Bum, not City Sightseeing Express, but now she loves it, and can't wait for her next vacation. 

Meanwhile, after the Roman fun, my next stop: Helsinki

With the Colosseum's wooden floor gone, you can see the tunnels where the animals were kept.

We randomly see the Olson twins hogging our photo spot.  That's one of them in the white shirt on the right.   One of the crew guys comes over to me to tell me to move back for photos. 
  "Do you know these girls," he says.
  "Kinda," I say. 
  "They keep telling us they're famous in America. We've never heard of them," he responds.
  Jen and I laugh.

Michaelangelo did not paint the creation ceiling scene on his back.  He stood so long, he got back problems and his shoes stuck to his feet, or so the story goes.

Hey Mikey, we like it!  Michaelangelo finished the Pieta (now in St. Peter's Basilica) when he was around 20.   It was so good, the locals didn't believe he did it.  Pissed off, Mikey broke into an exhibition and tagged "This work done by Michaelangelo.ò" 
Nice spunk!  Way to go, Angelo!!

Our priest-in-training guide Robert sheds some light on the statues inside St. Peter's Basilica.

Not "tarfooti" Jen!  Antoinella tells us how to pronounce "tartufo", the yummy chocolate gelato scoop rolled in chocolate chunks. 

Jen at a Forum arch.

Capitoline Museum sculpture frag shows Rome's #1 for history. 

Statue of Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome.  Appropriate to celebrate Rome's birthday.

The band plays on to celebrate Rome's birthday....

followed by flag-acrobats (popular in Northern Italy)

Local kiddie choir sings to celebrate.

Medusa even does up
 her 'do to celebrate.

Roman Candles: since all fireworks photos look the same, you'll have to trust me these are fireworks in Rome's North Stadium.  The powerful echo of the fireworks exploding above your head ricochets through the stadium like a canon.  Lucas could definitely mix it for a cool laser sound in the next Star Wars.