Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Day 4 Continued...

The Colosseum and The Roman Forum were our focus for the rest of this day.  The amount of information I have packed in my head about every tiny detail I saw is overwhelming.  I wish I could remember every story and reference, but alas.

The sheer vastness of the Colosseum was fascinating


If you notice, there are ginormous holes on every wall, everywhere you look.  Our guide told us this was from the Middle Ages when people stole the ancient metal clamps that were used to keep the giant  blocks together 


A drawing of what it looked like when it was vibrant during it's heyday.  Each arch had a sculpture, but it was closed (today they are all open).  The top was canvas and could be opened or closed.  The underground tunnels are WAY deeper than they look on tv or in photos!  I closed my eyes several times and imaged this place alive with Roman ferocity.  Quite a different site today.  


Artifacts found inside 









Our fabulous Alabama crew!



Roman selfie



This is the road leading to The Roman Forum.  These were the hardest (dry) rocks to walk on so far on this trip.  They were huge and awkwardly spaced apart.  




Our first view of the Forum


Our guide told us this is considered the most famous road in Rome


The Forum was the central part of the city in ancient Rome





This is the gravesite of Julius Caesar.  He is not actually buried here, his ashes are said to be scattered throughout the Forum.  This is said to mark the spot where the Temple of Caesar stood. 



After leaving the Forum, we headed back to our meeting point at the Piazza de Navona to meet Antonia. 

This guy was just hanging out... you know... floating. (It took me a sec, but it wasn't hard to figure out how he's doing that. The kids told me there are YouTube videos that show how street performers do it)



No clue what the name of the restaurant was called, but I swear each table in our group got like 8 pizzas to every 4 people...



No comments:

Post a Comment