Rome

Our flight from Paris was uneventful, though Beauvais Tillé Aéroport is a bit of a zoo and we didn't quite manage breakfast. Get there early, that's my advice.

A smooth trip got us to Rome in time to take a tour of the Catacombs. Worth a visit, but no photography allowed, for reasons I can't fathom.

Day two was our day trip out of Rome; we visited the ruins of Pompeii.

Pompeii

Pompeii

It's a long ride, so the tour company arranged a couple of stops along the way for…biological necessities. One of the stops was at a cameo factory.

Creating a Cameo

Pompeii is famous for the plaster casts of citizens caught in the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. (Odds are, it'll blow again some day.)

Casting

I'm also fond of the Cave Canum tiles.

Cave Canem

Day three took us to the Trevi Fountain (dry and with plumbers),

Trevi Fountain

the Pantheon,

Pantheon

Pantheon Panorama

and Piazza Navona by ourselves

Piazza Navona Fountain

and the Colosseum

Colosseum

Colosseum

and the Forum with a guide.

The Forum

On the way we stopped to see Michelangelo’s Moses at the Church of St. Peter in Chains.

Moses

And finally, no introductory trip to Rome would be complete without a visit to the Vatican Museums.

Vatican Museum Gallery of Maps

Alas, they are phenomenally crowded at the height of summer. The banner at the top of the (online) page is St. Peter's Basilica.

For more pictures, see the Rome set on Flickr.