We spent the first day of our stay in Rome going on organized tours through the whole day. We only had a morning tour scheduled for the second day. Our destinations were the Colosseum and the Forum, both places that were close to the hotel.
This is what I noticed across the road that morning when we left the hotel we were staying at. These steps lead up to the Basilica di San Pietro in Vincoli (the Basilica of St. Peter in Chains).
The church houses Michelangelo’s statue of Moses. This place was not part of the tour and some folks were hoping to climb to the top of the steps later in the day, but we ended up not having time to do that.
Marisa led us on this tour once again.
There were a lot of people already at the Colosseum early in the morning (but is was not as packed as when we left the place later!). Marisa took us up to a corner on the second level of the Colosseum to tell us about its history.
The Colosseum was constructed in the first century AD. It was essentially a place for free entertainment to keep the population occupied. Marisa mentioned that the primary thing notable about the structure of the Colosseum was its size, but its architecture itself was not unique. It was similar to other amphitheaters in design. She also noted that many bits and pieces from the structure are missing because the Romans were good at recycling their building materials even in ancient times. (You will notice such missing pieces in many other ruins in Italy.) Another point she noted that stuck with me was that the kinds of fights between the gladiators that we are used to seeing in movies, fights that often ended in the death of one person or another, were not that common. This is because gladiators were expensive to train and maintain, and in the end replace. Also, the animals used in the fights had to be brought from other places, which could be an expensive proposition. The Romans took care of their property. They were quite practical in these matters.
After Marisa’s talk we had some free time to ourselves. I had to make my way to the other end of the Colosseum to take pictures with decent lighting. (The panoramic pictures below are clickable!)
Here is a picture from the side.
Here is a picture of the hypogeum, the space beneath the surface of the arena.
We did see the remains of what might have been the biggest temple in Rome, the Temple of Venus and Rome, from one of the openings in the second level of the Colosseum.
Here is a picture of the Colosseum as we were departing.
We then walked through the Arch of Titus 
into the area of the Forum. This is a rectangular plaza at the center of the city of Rome surrounded by the ruins of several ancient government buildings. This space was originally a marketplace. Across the Forum we could see the City Hall on the Campidoglio (Capitol Hill), one of the seven hills of Rome.
You can see the Arch of Severus towards the right and in front of the City Hall in the picture above. The Altare della Patria is to the right in the background next to City Hall. We saw ruins such as the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina,
a temple that was converted to a church later in its existence (something that happened to a lot of temples, including the Pantheon), and the remains of the House of the Vestal Virgins,
among other historical artifacts. The Forum was the last stop on our organized tours in Rome.
Marisa then guided us back to our hotel after giving us a couple of suggestions for things to do later in the day. Some of us decided to take a walk to the Jewish area of the city (also called the Ghetto) for lunch. The food there was highly recommended. We walked from the hotel down the Via dei Fori Imperiali which was crowded by this time,
and went around the Altare della Patria to the steps that went up the Campidoglio to City Hall.
In the picture above you can see the much steeper steps to The Basilica of St. Mary of the Altar of Heaven behind the steps that we took. The steps to the basilica are called the “Stairway to Heaven”!
There are two statues at the top of the steps that we took to the Piazza del Campidoglio in front of City Hall.
There is a statue of Marcus Aurelius on a horse in the piazza in front of City Hall. 
We walked to the side of City Hall from where one could get a good “grandstand” view of the the Forum below us with the Colosseum in the distance.
The remains of the Temple of Saturn and the Arch of Severus are to the left in the picture below.
The Jewish Ghetto where we were headed for lunch was not too far away. It was quite busy by the time we got there.
Lunch was excellent. We ordered the fried artichokes that are a specialty of the place. After lunch we started walking towards the Tiber river. We passed the Great Synagogue of Rome.
We walked across the Fabricious bridge
to Isola Tiberina (Tiber Island) on the Tiber River. There is, as you might expect, a church here, the Basilica of St. Bartholomew on the Island. 
We crossed to the other side of river from the island over the Cestius Bridge.
We walked along the river for a short distance to the Garibaldi bridge,
and then crossed back to the side we had originally started on. 
We got a good view of the island as we crossed the river.
We then decided to walk back to the Pantheon and the Piazza Novona to see if I could get more pictures, since Marisa had rushed us through the previous day. We managed to find the Pantheon.
I took a picture of the obelisk in the Piazza della Rotunda in front of the Pantheon. (There are 13 obelisks all around Rome, all of which came from Egypt!)
But we then got lost looking for the Piazza Novona even though we had maps in our hands. We gave up the attempt and decided to try to find our way back to the hotel. We found ourselves on the Piazza Colonna once again with its column with a statue of Marcus Aureleus on top.
We finally managed to get on to the Via del Corso and the route back to the hotel. We passed the Altare della Patria once again on the way back.
That evening the tour group was taken to the Le Terme del Collosseo restaurant near the Colosseum for dinner. (We were told that this was the location of Nero’s residence in times past, but who really knows!) Dinner was accompanied by musical entertainment – classical and operatic music for the most part.
We had a nice time although this might have been only the second occasion in Italy during which the food was not completely up to snuff. But there was enough wine and entertainment to save the day!
After dinner we were picked up by Aldo in the area of the Colosseum
for a night-time drive through the city to see the sights at night. It was a beautiful experience, but conditions were not very good for taking pictures. Here is a picture of the Tiber with the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica in the distance.
Aldo dropped us back at the hotel after the ride. We were all tired and ready for bed.
There were some in the group who were leaving the tour for home and other destinations after this stop. The rest of us had a morning departure scheduled for Pompeii and Sorrento.
Read the next entry in this series of blogs on our trip to Italy here.
and then we were on the 
a wide boulevard that runs from the Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum. The street still had some road traffic early in the morning, but it is open only to pedestrian traffic during most of the day. This road was built by Mussolini in his own honor. He considered himself as great as the old roman emperors and wanted to build a memorial for himself. He destroyed a bunch of homes and other buildings, and also ancient ruins. These ruins now lie on both sides of this street.
We passed the 
the National Monument (also known as the wedding cake). You can see the soldiers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the top of the steps in front of the monument.
At the end of the 
Traffic around the piazza is crazy!
We entered one of the side streets paralleling the Via Del Corso as Marisa navigated the group towards the center parts of town.
Our first stop was the 
The place was packed with tourists. It is a practice at the Trevi fountain to throw a coin into the fountain and make a wish. (They do donate the money that ends up in the pool to charity.) From the Piazza di Trevi one can see the flags on top of the 
Then it was back on the side streets following Marisa.
She showed us a vehicle that looked like a car but was not really a car. The 
The next stop was the 
The place owes its name due to the presence of the Spanish Embassy that has been there since historical times. There are also other embassies in that area. You can see the 
Then it was on to the next stop.
We passed by the 
The latter is the official residence of the Prime Minister of Italy. We went through the Piazza di Pietra and saw the remains of the 
The last stop before lunch was at the 
The Pantheon’s dome is still the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome. The doors are massive and have been in use since historic times without need for replacement.
After lunch we gathered at a corner of the piazza and headed down to the river
to be picked up by Aldo to be driven to the Vatican.
Marisa explained to us that since conversations were not allowed in the Sistene Chapel itself, the authorities had provided this resource in the garden so that guides could talk about the chapel before entering. Then it was time to get in line to go through some of the 
There were chairs all over over the square and one was not free to wander around freely. You could see the balcony from which the pope speaks to the people on special occasions.
People wandered around the sections of the square that were not blocked off. The light was fading. 
All around the square were the colonnades with the statues on top.
One could see the building of the Prefecture of the Papal household and the Residence of the Pope, all part of the 
Pope Francis apparently chose to stay at the Vatican guesthouse instead.
We had to be dropped off a fair distance from our hotel because the roads nearby had been closed on account of some kind of protest going on closeby. The group straggled through the local roads and made it back safely.
The skies looked threatening.
After negotiating some stop-and-go rush hour traffic along the bank of the Arno river, we made a turn on to a bridge over the river and headed out of town.
It rained along the way.
I took these two pictures at a rest stop by playing with the point of focus of the lens on the camera.
The 
The bus headed a short distance up the hill and dropped us off at a parking lot, where we waited for our local guide to arrive. We could see the town of Assisi above us,
and the plains below.
There appeared to be an entrance-way into town next to the parking lot,
but instead of taking that route, we walked up a road to a different entrance higher up the hill. Fortunately the rain was somewhat light at this point. On the way we caught sight of the Basilica higher up on the hill.
Once we got through the entrance way
we found ourselves at the corner of three streets and we turned up the street for the Basilica.
We had to go though a security check to enter the 
After the group gathered near the entrance, it was time to enter the lower church of the basilica.
We entered the upper church from the back. Once again, photography was not allowed. After the tour we took some pictures from the front of the church and began our walk back to the parking lot for the buses.
The clouds had lifted a little bit over the plains. We could see the 
We exited the square,
and stopped at a 
The skies were getting darker
as we walked back to the parking lot after lunch,
and then the rain really began to come down heavily. The wind had also picked up as the storm passed through. We had to take shelter
while we waited for Aldo and our bus to reappear. We had to make a run for it through the rain to board the bus once it arrived.
Soon we had made our way into this sprawling metropolis and, after navigating some of the local streets, made it to our hotel close to the Colosseum. Dinner that evening was in the hotel itself. It was another multi-course affair with enough wine on the side to keep up the the good mood even though we were tired.
After dinner some folks decided to go out for a walk and see a little bit of the city while the others retired to their room to take care of other stuff. We got to bed at a reasonable time. We had two days of exploring to do in Rome, and it was clear that there was a lot to do.
There were a couple of musicians there to entertain us, a guitar player and a singer. There were more bottles of different kinds of wine awaiting us at our dining table.
The dinner started out with a wonderful spread of vegetables laid out on a central table for all to share.
It is quite the sight, and a nice surprise. We had been missing out on the usual vegetable intake that we were used to at home.
The merriment continued through the items that we were served before the main course, and indeed all of this food was polished off.
The musicians would take breaks from their efforts every once in a while and then come back to sing some more songs for us. At some point one of our fellow travelers was invited up to sing an Italian song with the musicians. And then the folks at our table convinced me in my inebriated state to join the guitar player to sing a song 
It was all quite tasty. And the wine kept flowing. After dinner Alessandro joined in some of the singing and noted that it was time for some dancing.
Aldo was also invited to join the musicians. He watched the rest of us with a somewhat bemused look on his face.
Folks boogied while the musicians did their thing.
Alessandro then introduced a newlywed couple who were a part of our group and brought out a cake for them. A song was sung for them.
When informed that there were other couples who were celebrating their anniversaries during the trip, he invited them all up. The musicians sang a song to all of them,
and they then all together blew out the candle on the cake.
Finally it was time for dessert and a shot of 
as Aldo drove the winding roads carefully, on his mission to deliver us safely back to our hotel. But he was also part of the fun. At some point he had us going around in circles in a 
We were taken on a bus from our hotel to the 
The lines to enter the gallery were long but things were moving since it was still early in the morning.
The statue of David is indeed stunning in its setting, and it gets your attention from many different locations in the gallery.
Michelangelo was also a anatomist. He understood the muscle and bone structure of a human being very well and was a master at recreating this in his work.
The other interesting room was the collection of sculptures made by students at the Academy in the past as a part of their studies. These were not necessarily meant for public viewing.
The holes in the sculptures were meant to be peg-points so that anybody making a copy could get the correct proportions for the piece they were sculpting.
The church is huge. In fact it is so big and is in such a location that I found it impossible to capture the entire building in a single picture.
The 
also includes the 
The architecture of this huge church is amazing. The 
After the visit to the cathedral we walked the narrow streets 
to the 
Two landmarks of Florence that are around this plaza are the 
This was the end of the morning tour.
and got an opportunity to take pictures of the bridge itself and the buildings on the river bank.
Frorence is known for its leather work. Alessandro had set up a tour of a leather shop for us. We learned how to identify real leather!
We hung out in the plaza for a short while.
After this stop, the others in our group decided to take a taxi back to the hotel while the two of us decided to take a walk along the Arno to our hotel. The sun was beginning to set. 
We got to our hotel room without any issues. It was time to relax for a short while. There was more fun being planned for that evening as a part of the tour, a subject for 
We passed the bus stand for commuter buses from the mainland.
We caught the 
Soon we were headed off the island over the bridge paralleling the bridge for the railway line. The 
On the mainland we followed the railway tracks for a short while.
We passed a stationary 
Then we were in the countryside and on the highway passing 
After a few hours, including a couple of “il bagno” stops along the way,
we entered a stretch of highway cutting through the 
There were several impressive tunnels that 
We had lunch at the restaurant after an tour of the farm led by a rather enthusiastic lady. The last picture in this set is of an olive tree.
There were other tour groups at lunch, which was accompanied by a few different bottles of wine produced at the estate.
The rain had started to come down heavily by the time we reached Pisa for our next stop. At the bus stop in 
It was obvious from initial observations that the tower was really leaning (apparently about 4° at this time),
but I got to thinking that, without a context, one could even make an upright tower look like it was leaning, depending on how one took a picture of the structure, or one could even take the picture of a leaning tower from a direction from which it might look upright. Here it is being pushed upright with some effort.
We also spent some time in the cathedral.
The area at the entrance to the piazza was filled with little shops selling knick-knacks and food and drink.
We visited some of the stores and had drinks to warm us up before heading back to the trolley that was to take us to the bus that was waiting at the bus stand.
We had to walk to an area beyond the railway station to catch our boat to Murano. This was what it looked like in front of the station. 
Our boat to Murano entered the open waters beyond the island after passing the dock for the cruise ships that visit. We could see the shoreline of Venice as we entered the waters beyond the island. You can see bridges at the entrances to canals, and water buses operating along the shores.
You can see that the waterways are the lifeline of the city. Here is a ferry.
The police get around in boats.
Murano itself is well known for its glass works. After our arrival at the dock
we visited a place where glassware is made.
We got a demonstration. The gentleman in the pictures below made two items for us. The first one one was formed by a process that involved shaping the glass while it was being rotated at the end of a long rod.
The second item, which used colored glass, required other more intricate techniques to stretch and shape it. He started this work with a round piece of glass and finished with this exquisite shape in less than ten minutes.
After the visit to the factory, we returned to Venice 
and disembarked within walking distance of the Piazza San Marco and the Doge’s Palace.
On the way to the Doge’s palace, we passed by the 
We took a tour of the Doge’s palace, with its massive ornate rooms with artwork and decorations everywhere. Our tour guide described the history, architecture and art of the place. We also visited the prison across the Bridge of Sighs in the later part of the tour.
The Chamber of the Great Council in the Doge’s Palace shown below is reputed to be one of the largest halls in Europe. It is hard to imagine that large structures like these built on a foundation of wooden pilings driven into the ground below the sea still survive.
After the tour we took a break to have lunch and relax in the piazza. Here are a few pictures from the piazza. The first one is of 
This is our group from Gaithersburg. The picture was taken by Alessandro.
This is a view of the piazza.
Then it was time for our gondola ride. After riding initially through some of the narrower canals,
we entered the 
The grand canal was busy and we passed many water buses.
We were entertained by a singer and an accordion player who were on one of the boats in our group.
We saw maneuvers like this a few times during the ride.
After the ride we hung out near the Piazza San Marco for some more time. 
We started our way back to the hotel on foot as the sun began to set. The picture below is the view we got of the Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge.
The restaurant along the canal in the picture below appeared to be open for business.
The buses were still plying the grand canal.
There were a lot of people around, walking past the brightly lit shops on the Rialto bridge.
We walked through a few other shopping areas.
This was the aircraft that took us to Munich.
At Munich we got some bad news that our onward flight to Venice had been cancelled. We got ourselves booked on an alternate flight later in the day. This meant that we were going to lose some of the time that we had wanted to spend on our own in Venice. But there was nothing to be done about this. Folks caught up on their loss of sleep from the previous flight while waiting for the connecting flight in the airport lounge in Munich.
By the time we got on our way to Venice the sun was beginning to set.
Taking the boat from the 
We had rooms in an old hotel along the 
Fortunately we had reached the hotel just in time for the introductory dinner. We met Alessandro and the rest of the folks who were going to be on our tour. We were also provided with additional information for the tour.
Because of 
We passed many shops set up in little shacks in the middle of the street that were selling small items for tourists. Most of the shop owners seemed to be immigrants from different parts of the world.
We crossed over a few canals,
and passed by a few eateries that were open late. Pizza and panini seemed to be the most common items to be found for a quick bite.
Then it was time to head off to bed and get ready for the adventures of the next day.
Splattered Brains 