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| The ruins of Pompeii with Mt. Vesouvious in the background. |
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| Typical street in Napoli... |
Rome and The Vatican...
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| St. Peter's Basilica in Rome |
Tradition and some historical evidence hold that Saint Peter's tomb is
directly below the altar of the basilica. For this reason, many Popes have been interred at St. Peter's since the Early Christian
period. There has been a church on this site since the 4th century.
| You need to see it in person to really appreciate |
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| Try painting upside down for 4 years and do this good... |
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| Looking up inside the dome of St. Peter's Basilica completed in 1626. |
Oh, the Roman Colosseum built in 70 ad and still there.
And how long did we have Texas Stadium? 30 years...
| Remember in school studying the Roman Empire... |
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| Here we are inside the Roman Colosseum...such history. |
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| This just takes your breath when you ponder on what took place here nearly 2000 years ago! |
Below is the Leaning Tower of Pisa...and we climbed to the
very top - what a weird little bell tower. VERY COOL...
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| Looks like Ronnie is holding the Leaning Tower of Pisa from falling...cute! |
The tower is actually a bell tower for a really big beautiful bisicala
next to it. We were so excited about the tower, we never even went into the church...so sad, but you always read about
the Leaning Tower of Pisa, never the church.
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| OK, this may look like a jailhouse or dungeon, but |
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| it is our hotel which is a 15th century castle...really cool...! |
| Our hotel in Napoles, Italy...with no elevator! |
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| A15th century home of the local count...very unique! |
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| The wall around the Vatican in Rome... |
Below -
Opera House - Rome
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| Even the Opera House in Rome is magnificent... |
| When in Rome, Italy... |
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| you should go to the Opera House to see an opera...this was different. |
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| This door is only opened every 25 years... |
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| Ronnie in front of the Roman Colosseum - built in 70 AD |
| See how the floor covered the tunnels below. |
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| Details of the Roman Colosseum...AMAZING! |
Pisa, Italy...
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| Pizza and Pasta is all we ate for 2 weeks... |
FLORENCE, ITALY... home of Michaelangelo's Statue
of David
A very quaint little town...
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| Another of the famous bridge and countryside in Florence, Italy |
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| When in Rome (or Naples) you got to do as they do. So, pizza was the order of the day. |
Napoles, Italy (Napoli)...home of the original Pizza. We are
so glad Americans got this recipe and made it their own. Pizza in Napoles is terrible...too thin, not cooked enough &
weird little toppings. It's kind of like Tex-Mex...once you've tried it, you can't go back to the original stuff.
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| Just a small part of the ceiling in St Peter's Basilica |
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| The ceiling paintings look more like carved 3-dimentional figures...really cool |
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| The the row of windows behind the bldg. is the Pope's apartment in the vatican. |
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| Pope Benedict XVI |
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| Down on the floor you can see where the tunnels and cages were. |
In the photo above you can see some of the Roman columns unearth,
but more interestingly, the building in the back shows buildings built on top of each other. On the bottom layer is
1st century, then you see a 2nd century and then a 12th century building. They just piled the debris into the building
and used it as a foundation for the next building on top. Pretty cool when you think about it.
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| Kathy climbing the Leaning Tower of Pisa...this was not easy! You can really feel the lean. |
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| My oh my...Michaelangelo's David in Florence, Italy |
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