<data:blog.pageTitle/>

It is hard not to feel joie de vivir while traveling through Rome. Every corner is a history book just waiting to be read by you, the reader. It hums with energy of the past and hope for the future. It is brutal and glorious all rolled into one and then there's the gelato. Gelato IS joie de vivir and I truly believe it holds healing properties. I am not kidding anytime the heat got to me or I was feeling sick I would get a gelato and miraculously feel better. As I watched the people of Rome I saw people who know how to hustle, who don't take no for an answer, who don't let anyone steamroll them but do the steamrolling. I saw women who dressed beautifully and walked the city in heels. How? I do not know because we logged at least ten miles a day minimum walking in Rome.

The ancient Appian way...original Roman roads

The Colosseum

The Colosseum interior

It was super hot in Rome...seeing the sights with my darling friend Misty.

The Roman forum..I kept thinking I wonder what these people did for work. What were their beliefs, who did they love, was life hard, was it this hot with no a/c, what did the kids do, did they enjoy their work, why would they want to see gladiators get eaten by starving tigers?

The Pantheon which is designed perfectly to be lit at all times, and mathematically engineered perfectly. It was amazing and also Raphael is buried there. I had Raphael's angels hanging in my bedroom as a teenager. I loved those cherubs. This church was more interesting to me that the Colosseum..the design was amazing.

I had to see Michelangelo's Moses in chains what STRENGTH this sculpture conveys. I loved seeing Moses portrayed in this way. I was in awe of Michelangelo's talent.

Both of the doors to this church are original Michelangelo works.

This is amazing it is a calendar by Galileo. You can see the tiny dot of light way up high it shines the light of the sun onto a grid on the floor that can tell you the month, day, and year. I was fascinated!