The March of the Burrages, Rome style

Off to Rome to meet up with the Burrages.  They always feature in a trip overseas as they happily meet us.  Last year in Amsterdam this year Rome.  They will likely be back in Calgary next year so no more meeting them anywhere except the local pub.  That has its good points though, a lot cheaper than flying halfway across the world to visit with the.!   So we met up with them after making our way from Dubrovnik.  Now we are in Rome so everywhere you turn, there is an old fountain, an old building an old church, you get the idea. 
Now a trip here would not be complete without a trip to Vatican city.  Do you know since Italy annexed some of their land sometime in the past that entitles Vatican city to 1% of Italy's taxes?  Wow, good score for them the smallest city in the world.  The Vatican museums are amazing.  Beautiful statues, beautiful mosaics, some of these are actual menus for old restaurants.  Since most people could not read they would put mosaic tiles up so people knew what the restaurant served.  I am pretty sure that's why McDonald's does it today with pictures no one reads nowadays either.  The Sistine chapel that Michelangelo spent a heck of a long time painting is very impressive but you cannot take pictures of it though some people still try.  St Peter's basilica which is also in Vatican city you can take pictures of because all the pictures in it are made of mosaic so it won't fade like paint does.  That takes a lot of work, wow. 

Now why is this called the March of the Burrages?  Well, we walked with Ann and Richard who have been to Rome a number of times.  They know where they are going, ok at least they think they do and things tend to be just around that corner, or maybe the next corner or maybe not.  HA!  We always ended up where we were supposed to be either close to or close enough to the time we had to be. 

We also toured the Colliseum and the Forum.  Both incredibly impressive bits of architecture. 

 

The colliseum is huge and there were some interesting spectator sports that were held there.   You know some gladiators fights, some animal fights, some people vs animal fights. some Christian martyr's getting martyred.  There have also been graffetti found on the walls, you know whose your favorite gladiator?  The coolest mosaic as far as I was concerned was the two "amazon women"  who beat the lion, oh yeah, women kicking butt, Roman style. 

 

 The Forum which was not even "discovered" when I went to Rome ( no last time I was there it was not during Roman times, just clarifying that) was amazing.  They found the  place where Julius Caesar was cremated after his murder.  The home of the  seven"Vestal Virgins" was there. These were some powerful ladies handpicked by the king, I think that's who picked them, they were keepers of the "hearth".   Ask the "great and mighty google" if you want some more information on these ladies. 

 

The neatest thing I thought in the forum was a peice of marble.  Why this peice of rock? 

 This was point "zero" in Rome where all roads started, you know the saying, all roads lead to Rome where this is where they lead to, cool.  Ok, so that sums up the tour of Rome, back to home again for another year..........sigh.