The main event of our second full day in Rome was a visit to the Colosseum. The scale of it was impressive - large enough that I can't really wrap my head around the level of effort and ingenuity it took to build it without any modern equipment. For me, it's similar to trying to grasp the scale of the universe... logically, I know how big the numbers involved are, but there's really no way to put it in proper perspective.
Every famous destination in Rome is crowded with tourists, and people trying to extract money from the tourists, and the Colosseum is no exception. As we approached, several people tried to convince us to sign up for guided tours, promising to let us skip the "hour and a half" line to enter the Colosseum on our own. We declined, then waited in line for about 20 minutes before getting in.
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| Inside the Colosseum |
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The lower level of the Colosseum.
On the right, you can see the area which housed gladiators and animals before contests were held. It was originally covered with wood and sand to form the arena. |
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A patch of the original brick floor poking through the asphalt,
on one of the walkways inside the Colosseum |
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| A view from a Colosseum balcony |
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| The exterior of the Colosseum |
After the Colosseum, we found a tasty lunch spot nearby. We learned never to eat at the restaurant closest to a major tourist attraction, and also never to eat at an empty restaurant. Using these rules, we found a great wine bar a few streets away.
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A deluxe scooter, equipped with a trash can,
parked outside of our lunch stop |
After lunch, we walked by the Rome Capitol Building, which was pretty impressive.
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| The Capitol Building in Rome |
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| Closer shot of the Capitol Building - pretty impressive! |
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| The square opposite the Capitol Building |
After that, we walked around the city for a while, and saw all sorts of interesting things. Destinations like the Colosseum are great, and shouldn't be missed, but Liz and I often enjoy walking through a foreign city just as much as seeing famous attractions. I'm fascinated by the day to day details of life in other cultures, and it's hard to get a feel for them in tourist spots.
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| Bologna... a lot of it |
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That's Liz's dream arrangement on the left:
flowers and hot peppers |
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| Some great sidewalk chalk art |
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| il delfino! |
For dinner, we went to
EnOsteria, a few blocks from our apartment. The food was great, the service... not so much. They had one waiter and one busboy for fifteen or so tables, and were totally overwhelmed. Combine that with our lack of Italian, and it got a little rocky. In the end though, the food and wine won out, and we had another great dinner.
After dinner, Liz and I walked back up to the Spanish steps, only a few blocks from our apartment. We had walked by the bottom of the steps earlier in the day, but wanted to see them at night. A great way to end the day!
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| The bottom of the Spanish steps |
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| From the top of the Spanish steps, later that night |
Whew... busy day. Tomorrow morning, we leave Rome and drive to the villa in Umbria!
Were there stray cats EVERYWHERE?
ReplyDeleteNo, surprisingly there weren't many strays at all. Rome really reminded me of Athens, except for the lack of cats.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos. What are you using to create your panoramas? In camera feature or some kind of stitching software?
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ReplyDeleteSuch a lovely sharing! All the attractions that you discussed above sound amazing and motivate the reader to visit them. The most attractive place for me is the Colosseum. I have visited this with my uncle and found it really a worth visiting place in Italy
ReplyDeleteEnjoy Colosseum Tours one of the world most iconic and visited monuments! Colosseum Tours Skip the line access to the Colosseum, Palatine Hill and Roman Forum.
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