Rome

We only had two days to see Rome.  I had to plan it out so we got the most in during those two days.  I know we missed a ton, but we saw the highlights.  We were able to map it out and walk to most of them the first day.  We finished off the list the second day when we went to Vatican City.

The Coliseum.  (of course you already knew that.)  This was my first look at it as we came through the park from our hotel. 

This guy is in costume to take photos with tourist for money.  We played along.

The presidential palace.

Crowds at the Coliseum.

I thought these were the Spanish Steps at first.  

Oh yes, these (below) are the Spanish Steps!  Cathedral behind them and fountain in front both under repair.

The Trevi Fountain under repair.  I was glad I knew it was going to be like this before I got there or 

I would have been really bummed.

At the top of the Spanish Steps, there was a huge traffic jam.  We walked on beside it and found a motorcade.  It eventually moved along and when we arrived up ahead at a park, it had stopped again and these people got out.  I took their photo and read all the newspapers the next day, but never figured out who they were.  Can you see in the black vehicle, 5 men in black with machine guns?  These two were really guarded, but none of the guards seemed concerned about the tourists and locals running around close to them.  I notice in one of the shots that one of the guards has his eyes on me with my camera tho.  The couple headed into the park towards the zoo.

Below is Castle Saint Angelo, it is close to the Vatican.

The Tiber River

The night we left Rome, there was a huge thunder and lightning storm.  I have never seen so much lighting in my life!  And here I was stuck inside an airport.  I wanted out to try some shots.  A goal of mine has been to get some lighting photos.  Well, we were 2 hours late taking off because of it.  We were on the plane on the tarmac waiting for take off forever.  As we took off the sky was just flashing.  I held my camera up to the window and held down the shutter.  It took some editing, but I am pretty pleased with my first successful lighting shot.