The very first thing any proper Gladiator fan has to do in Rome is make a bee-line for the Colosseum. While the weather shock between rainy and mild Ireland and hot and muggy Italy was pretty severe, I wasn't going to let that stop me, or even slow me down.
The Colosseum was everything I'd ever thought it could be. Huge. Impressive. Ancient. Beautiful. Packed. The line was pretty long, though it moved a good clip. I got to wondering if people in the future will ever wait in line to take a tour of a modern stadium. Somehow, I rather doubt it, but you never know!
After we left the Colosseum we headed to the Palatine and the Forum. This was also pretty interesting, but rather hamstrung by the fact that the ruins are so much more... well, ruined. The Colosseum is in pretty bad shape, but you can really see what it once was. The remains dotting the hill of the Palatine are in various states of preservation, but few are much more than a few bits a pieces of statuary and broken columns. I have a pretty good imagination, but after a while all the broken columns start to look a little bit alike.
Poor Nick hadn't been in a real Summer since he left Japan two years ago, so he was not at home in the intense heat and humidity of Rome. He held up pretty well despite that, though I can really see why Rome has so many fountains dotted all over. If we hadn't been able to refill our water bottles so often, we both would have keeled right over.
3 comments:
The number one place I want to go.
On another note, my father-in-law has an old friend in Ireland and is toying with the idea of visiting...he, of course, is also very proud of his Irish heritage...but he is a little follow the leader, not take control and make a plan if you know what I mean. :-) Anyway, I'm not much good at planning a huge trip like that, but being that you just got back from a trip and it sounds like you enjoy that sort of thing, I was thinking maybe you could set me on the right path. Who knows, maybe the whole family will go. :-)
Okay, that was probably too long for a blog comment, but oh well.
your picturs are amazing... I would love to go to Rome one day.
I want to know where that last photo was taken - not that I didn't enjoy the others. We should compare coliseum photos - mine are from 1971 or so - remind me.
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