Well today I decided to concentrate on the ancient Rome section of the city. It's convenient that all these places are clustered somewhat together. The first place I visited was the Colosseum. I got there a little earlier than it opened and there was hardly anyone around. What a beautiful piece of construction but you hate to think about all the slaves and gladiators that were killed by the lions there. I signed up for a "behind the scenes" tour and it was awesome. I got to go underground where the gladiators stayed and where they kept the lions. They showed how they'd hoist up the lions in these old style elevators and release them into the arena at different spots so the gladiators didn't know where they'd be coming from. Scary stuff! One of the pictures is a view looking out from the Colosseum across Palatine Hill and the Forum over to Capital Hill. The large white building with the chariots on top is the Victor Emmanual Monument made for Italy's first king and where they have their Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. One of the other pictures is the Arch of Constantine, which stands right outside the Colosseum. In A.D. 312, Emporer Constantine led a military coup to make Christianity mainstream and they erected this arch at the spot of that battle. The Forum and Palantine hill were very interesting to tour. Unbelievable how grand the Roman empire was and how much power they had. I also visited the Pantheon, which is an architect's dream. That's the picture of the building with huge columns in front. I wish I could have included a picture of the dome inside but since it has a hole in the middle of it, every picture I took did not come out well due to the sunlight streaming in. The dome has been used as the model for both Michelangelo's dome of St. Peter's (at the Vatican) as well as the dome of the US Capital building as well as many others. It's now a church inside and several famous Italian Kings and Raphael, a famous artist from the Renaissance period are buried there. Not far from there is the famed Trevi fountain which was magical all lit up at night. I tossed a coin in and legend has it that I'll be returning so... who's coming with me?? One other great find, right near the Trevi Fountain was the best gelato place in Rome! The dark chocolate with chocolate chunks was to die for. OK, maybe it's not the overall best but I'll do my best T try a bunch out just to see! 🙂 Hope everyone had a great over the hump day! Ciao! Jeff PS: Good luck to my trivia team tonight! I added lots of detailed Roman history stuff so I hope you get one of those questions!
The Wandering Italian 