Rome, Italy 2010

Here are photos of Rome only, but other galleries cover the rest of our first European adventure to Florence, Venice, Nice (France) and Paris. There is a lot of impressive detail in the ceiling artwork of the Vatican, so be sure to move your cursor to the right side of the large photo and select "original" to appreciate them fully.This gallery focuses on structures because that is a lot of the preserved history of Rome. None of the indoor photos were taken using a tripod-they are not allowed. I used a small bean bag and held it to a pew, rope stanchion or wall, and many shots were totally free-hand held such as all of those inside St. Peter's Basilica. This was a walking tour of ancient Rome with an ambitious schedule. There was often no time to brace the camera against any object, so I took multiple shots in succession to try and get a clear one. (Placing the shutter on two second delay and holding your breath helps steady the camera.) Lighting was often quite dim, and some of the totally hand held exposures were 1/5 second in duration at ISO 400. No Rome churches were on the Globus tour schedule except St. Peter's Basilica. The other church photos, and all of the night exposures, were done on side journeys my wife and I conducted by ourselves based on prior research, or were pointed out in passing by our tour guide who thoughtfully catered to my interest in the Church's interiors.