Fine, so you all win

I finally caved! After resisting the constant nagging to join the world of blogging and facebook for over a year, I am swallowing my pride and starting a blog. But don't get too excited and expect a play by play of my life...the sole purpose of this blog is to share my photos with those of you who requested them. With that disclaimer, I begin.....

Italy, Here we come!

As most of you know I just returned from a week in Italy with Mary and Taylor. Right before we left I purchased a brand new camera....lets just say I had a little fun with it. Here are the ones that made the cut from the 500 photos I shot. Enjoy!

Our first stop on Saturday was the Colosseum. What a great way to begin!

Gladiator, looks like you die. So sorry.

View from the Colosseum.

Our first meal in Italy! We had pizza almost everyday, but I never got tired of it.

Taylor's new dream car. I think it suits him.

Our first of many, many churches. This was one of my favorites.

Taylor mimicking a sculpture of Moses with horns.

Mary posing as a statue....this became a common theme of our photos. All of the pedestals were just too tempting.

The Palatine Hill is next to the Colosseum and is covered in ancient ruins. Foot races were held on the track shown here.

Mary dubbed herself Tour Guide Barbie...a role which she played exceptionally well! She constantly referenced the 2 or 3 guidebooks she carried at all times. Thanks for lugging around all that weight!

From any overlook in Rome you can see a handful of domes.

We stumbled upon an amazing overlook of the Forum. The is a close up of one of the ancient buildings.

And some statues in the Forum.

I loved the lemon trees! Why can't we grow those here?

Mary basks in the sun while Taylor reads her a little poetry.

This might look like a good idea.....

...until Taylor jumped down and broke his sandal. This was just the first of our podiatric mishaps. About 5 minutes later Mary missed a step and sprained her ankle.

Fortunately I was a bit more careful getting down.

Down in the Forum.

The Piazza del Campidoglio, just above the Forum on Capitoline Hill. The statue is of Marcus Aurelius.

Doesn't Taylor look just like him, particularly the bulging muscles?

The Piazza is surrounded by a couple art museums.

The colossal head of Constantine. It appears somebody had an ego.

And Taylor said you are supposed to kiss his foot. Not sure where he got that, but we went with it.

Apparently this little area was Rome's version of Temple Square. There were bridal parties everywhere shooting photos.

Mary particularly like this bride's veil.

I had a little fascination with doors. Why don't we have such beautiful and unique doors in America?! These were a few I found, all on the first day with the exception of the Gates to Heaven (gold one) which was in Florence.

And the death march continues....

Ok, so it wasn't really a death march, but man! Mary has got some energy! Secretly Taylor and I decided Mary's sprained ankle was a blessing in disguise....at least to us. It's not that I didn't feel horrible that she was in so much pain, but at least she slowed down a bit so we could keep up with her.

We took a little break from all of our walking to rent this 2 (or 3 if you squoosh) person bike and ride around the Villa Borghese.

Apparently Taylor and I were having some fun on the bike.

Everywhere we went we came across nuns. I'm not sure why but I just found them so cute.

Another piazza...I don't remember the name. They are all over the city!

I believe this is the only photo of all 3 of us....taken on our way home after wandering the city lost for hours. Apparently Via Julia and Via Julio are not the same street.

Sadly, the Pope was out of town

Monday was our day for the Vatican. We started at St. Peters Basilica. I'm not positive but I'm assuming this is St. Peter as it is the statue at the front of the church.

We decided to save the couple euros by walking to the top of the dome rather than paying to take the elevator. Word of advice to anyone who visits St. Peter's in the future....pay the money! Poor Mary did the whole thing on her sprained ankle and I honestly don't know how she survived. But the view of the dome was beautiful.

After getting an up close view of the dome we walked a few more hundred steps to the very top for a spectacular view of Rome.

This is Taylor being Italian (or at least Mary's attempt at making Taylor look Italian.) Apparently the "in" thing is the roll up your sleeves and wear your collar up.

Mary has an obsession with lions and made me take a picture of every one we came across. These were on an ancient Roman bath in the Vatican museum. She tried to hide it in most pictures but notice the wrapped ankle.

Mmmmm!!! We lived off gelato! Breakfast, lunch, and dinner...no exaggeration.

One of my favorite evenings...we strolled from Campe de Fiore, the piazza pictured here, to Trevi Fountain. As we found out, Italy is very much a night town. They shut down for siesta and then everyone comes out in the evenings.

Along the way we stopped at the Pantheon.

According to Mary you throw in one coin to Trevi fountain to come back to Rome and two coins to find love.

Mary of course threw in two.