www.GANCARZ.com

The Colosseum. From this picture you can see the damage that car pollution has caused, as the stone has turned black from soot. On the right side, you can see the result of recent efforts to clean the Colosseum as the stone appears more white.

This is the ruins of the Roman Forum. This was the political and administrative centre of the ancient city.

Here we are inside the Saint Peter in Chains church. This was the church of Saint Peter, and now holds one of his relics, the chains used to imprison him.

Apparently, Saint Peter was imprisoned twice in his life time. When the two sets of chains were brought together, they miraculously fused into one chain. This painting on the ceiling of the church depicts the miracle.

These are St. Peter's Chains.

Michelangelo's second most famous sculpture, his statue of Moses, can also be seen on display in Saint Peter in Chains church.

This is the Pantheon, a temple that was originally dedicated to the greek gods. The top of the building is a perfect hemispheric dome made of a single pouring of concrete.

The door into the temple is original, and is so perfectly balanced that it can still be operated by only one person.

Seven centuries after the temple was built, it was converted into a Christian church, and it remains a church today. In addition to Kings and Queens of Italy, the painter Raphael is buried inside.

The skylight at the top of the dome is the only source of light in the building. The dimensions of the dome and building are so perfect that a small increase in air pressure, caused by the body heat of a few hundred worshipers, is enough to prevent rain from coming through the hole.

The empty "windows" around the top of the building would have held statues of all the major Greek gods.

This is the Trevi fountain, the most famous of all the Roman fountains. Tradition says that throwing one coin over your shoulder into the fountain means you will return to Rome some day. Throwing two coins mean that you will find love. Throwing three means you will get divorced. Throwing more than three means you have too much money.

Here are my Mom and Dad in front of the fountain. Dad claims he tried to throw three coins into to fountain, but Mom stopped him.