rome/vatican city

i was so freakin' proud of myself. i took this our 1st morning there. about 8 of us woke up super early (jet-lagged and all), met in the lobby @ 6am and walked to piazza del popolo (15-20 min walk) to take some scenic pictures of rome. yes. this was taken before i had any coffee...which if you know me at all is quite the feat (despite what the time stamp says at the bottom of this post, i'm not a morning person. my internal clock is still messed up. better than yesterday, but still messed up!).

*canon zoom lens: 70-300mm

the infamous colosseum and arch of constantine. i know this is going to sound totally mental, but the whole time we were walking outside of it, i kept thinking in my head, "MAXIMUS! MAXIMUS!" (from the russell crowe movie, gladiator)

grandma and mom: these next 3 pics are especially for you!

mere and me in front of st. peter's basilica

inside

the view from the top of the dome overlooking st. peter's square. after most of our group went back to the hotel or to shop, a bunch of us girls decided to stay and climb to the top. it was magnificent. tragically painful, but magnificent. 320 steps AFTER the elevator takes you up 2-3 stories. the stairs just kept spiraling upward with seemingly no end in sight. it was narrow and closed in and when you're walking up with what seems like the rest of the world in a forced single-file line in upper 90 degree weather, it's very humid and sticky. there were times that i had to lean to one side because the stairs were next to the slanted dome wall!

at times, it was even more tightly spiraled than this. in one section toward the very top, instead of a railing in the center, there was just a rope hanging down! raiders of the lost arc, anyone?

workin' up a sweat...major cardio action here! and look, i'm still smiling! nah, actually it's because we were all joking about it coming down...

the dome posse