Rome in Pictures

The posh Via Veneto.   Our hotel, Parco dei Principi sits on the edge of the Borghese Gardens, so after a rest, we walked through the gardens and down the Via Veneto, one of the poshest streets in Rome.  This is a view of Via Veneto.

This is a picture of the All Blacks, New Zealand's renowned Rugby team who were in Rome to play Italy.  The story behind the name of the team is this:  A sportscaster some years ago was praising the team and said they ran like "all backs."  This was mis-printed in the paper as All-Blacks and the name stuck.  So funny since we had just come from New Zealand where we had heard that story and where the team is revered.  We saw them all over the hotel--big strapping athletes who seemed somewhat out of place in the very formal Baroque-style hotel.  They won the game which was on Saturday.  Revenge is sweet.

We took our usual bus tour the next day to get our bearings and this was our first view of the huge, and very white, Victoria Emanuel Monument, nicknamed by the American GIs "the wedding cake."  It's hard to convey how huge this building is but it dominates the area.

And the famous Trevi Fountain.  Can you believe we didn't throw a coin? We couldn't get close enough without lobbing it over hundreds of heads.