Guided City Tour Rome - the eternal city

Guided City Tour - Rome Vincent was the special guest. He was with me already in Florence and was introduced already to most of the history. He was by his own in the Sistine Chappel yesterday and did some walks in Rome. So we concentrated today on the other highlights... after an hour ride in the shaky bus in an the normal Roman city traffic chaos we arrive at Piazza Venicia - Monument of Vittorio Emanuele Piazza die Campidoglio and the surrounding palazzi were crreated by Renaissance artist and architect Michelangelo Buonarotti in 1536 - 1546. the statue of Marc Aurel Rome`s city hall the Forum Romanum - a rectangular forum (plaza) surounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings. Here was the center of Roman public life: the site of triumphal processions and elections, the venue for public speeches, criminal trials and gladiatorial matches and the nucleus of commercial affairs the Colosseum - an elliptical amphitheatre, built by concrete and stone, largest ampitheatre of the Roman Empire, considered one of the greates works o Roman architecture and engineering, largest one in the world, blue-print for all our soccer stadions - an icon, a symbol of Rome What a picture!!! Ok - not made by me, but still... Thanks Vincent built 22 B.C.!!! 80 entrances for 4 several social levels, hosted 50.000 spectators, emptied in 5 minutes!!! the cellar was a difficult construction where the wild animals could be brought in by difficult elevator systems. Filmset for "The Gladiator" - poor Russel :-(   OK - I couldn`t resist - we did a little detour to "San Pietro in Vincoli" (San Peter in chains),  the church hostes the famous statue of Moses by Michelangelos. No entrance fee and... nooo lines!! It came up that Vincent knows this statue since we was a child. He has it at home. It was a gift from his father, who was Italian. So perfect! these are the chains of Saint Peter What a gorgeous place to have a coffee Via Veneto - film set of "La Dolce Vita" - Fontana del Tritone Tom - maybe we don`t need a melon :-) Trevi Fountain - Fendi sponsered 2 Mio Euro for the restoration - it was worth it.   the Italian way of "Fast Food" not for us.... we chose a "Slow Food" restaurant just in front of the Pantheon the Pantheon - almost 2000 years after it was built, the Pantheon`s dome is still the world`s largest unreinforced concrete dome. Raphaels tomb is inside. one of the most famous squares in Rome - who knows the name?? Fontana dei quatro Fiumi - Fountain of the Four Rivers we visited an exhibition of Leonardo Da Vinci - his flying objects Castel Sant`Angelo - Mausoleum of Hadrian, the popes fortress an castle and now it is a museum. The castel was once the tallest building in Rome Vatican City - Saint Peter Vincent thanks for a perfect day, I hope you enjoyed it - I did!!