Way back in time....

Thursday 29^th May

Another big day in Rome with a trip to the Colosseum and Ancient Rome. We headed in early because we weren’t sure of the time it would take to the Colosseum. When we arrived at the metro station it was jam packed and we had to wait for 3 trains before we could get on. I couldn’t do this every day of the week. I didn’t need to hold on in the train because there was nowhere to fall to!

Again we took a guided tour to avoid the long lines and be guided to the best places to see. Unfortunately our guide this time was doing her first tour and also her English was not easy to understand so we did not get the value out of the tour that we had hoped for. It was good that we had been to Niems and Orange and seen the colosseum and theatres there as it helped us to visualise what the colosseum would have been like. Now the colosseum is really just ruins and hard to picture. Still, it is an amazing structure and incredible that so much is still standing 2000 years later. Apparently the colosseum was built by jewish prisoners and slaves.

First look at the Colossuem.

Even though entry to the Colosseum was free, each person had a ticket
and it gave a gate number for entry - just like the MCG. 

Looking down into the arena from the second level.
The floor (example at right hand end) was made of wood
and covered with sand. 

Looking along the length of the arena
- there were 2 levels below ground level
where all the gladiators and animals were housed.
It was also used for setting up the events.

From the Colosseum we then went to the Forum which was the centre of Ancient Rome. Quite incredible when walking around to see lumps of marble lying around which were part of old columns. Our tour finished at the top of Palatine hill which is one of the 7 hills of Rome.

Columns at one of the temples near the Colosseum.

Constantine's arch - and just an example of the crowds of people
 that we were dealing with everywhere.

Some of the ruins in the forum.

A temple inside the forum. 

Ancient roman road from the forum to the top of Palatine Hill.

Part of a big foot - not too sure that the big toe is an original.

Just a small sample of the tiling that covered the whole floor
of Nero's palace. The colours in the marble are just beautiful.

An open games area.
Not for chariot races but believed to be for other games. 

Circus Maximus - looks like a paddock at the moment
but I think they are restoring some of it to open up for tours.

By this time we had had enough of ancient Rome so we just had lunch and returned to the hotel for an afternoon rest and to plan our next accommodation after Rome.

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I don't think I really like Rome. It is fantastic to be able to see all the things that we heard and read about at school but I just hate the crowds of people everywhere you go. It makes it hard to absorb what you are seeing when you have to constantly fight for space to see anything. I have also found the Italian men in Rome to be very rude especially when it comes to getting on the trains.