Roma

Our hotel (Hotel Gerber) was in a quiet residential neighborhood just outside of the Vatican city... so nice and modern with free internet access that we took refuge here often for longer than other cities.
Rome is to us a sprawling city, a mix of the ancient and new. And I marvel at how the locals just blend perfectly while living in both. It's incredible how old it is! We went from the Colosseum to the Roman Forum, imagining what it was like to be in the Senate and invited to Caesar's house for dinner.
The Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica was even more grand than I've imagined from reading/studying in the past. The pope was in his summer's residence; perhaps that explained why our line was not long, but the crowd through the museum was still massive. At the infamous Sistine Chapel, we stood elbow to elbow with likely a hundred other tourists, snapping illegal pictures of the ceiling. The poor Italian guard just gave up, knowing that people will just take pictures anyway, and it was a humongous crowd.
We love the night walk through Rome among the locals. From the pizza of the people to the Spanish steps, Rome really came alive at night- full of artists, entertainers, musicians, and local teenagers hanging out and tourists (me) licking gelato through the whole walk. It was here that I heard a German guy play the banjo and singing Sweet Home Alabama. So much fun.
We hopped the intercity train to Orvieto, Umbria, one of he hilltowns of Tuscany. Not like the book, but plenty quaint. Good food, wine and souvenir shopping- perfect day.

Better pictures are on the DSLR and not load-able to Blogger. Sorry.