It seems as if the only free time I have is this late at night and I spend it writing a new post. But hey! It’s finally time to get into our visit to the Colosseum and Vatican City.
We arrived at the Colosseum yesterday around 3:30. The weather had started to get a bit gloomy and it began to rain. This didn’t hinder our amazement though. The Flavian Amphitheatre was absolutely breathtaking. Our amazing tour guide Katya (I may have spelled that wrong, as we were never told the correct spelling), gave us so much history. It’s crazy to me that it’s portrayed in movies and talked about as a casual thing, but in reality it was a bloody, awful mess. The story behind why the men were fighting each other or the animals is heartbreaking. To think that if the “games” would have continued, many more animals may be extinct. To the Romans, they didn’t see what they were doing and how it would impact future animal species. Someone in our group mentioned that being there was like being in a Holocaust museum. It’s interesting and important to learn about and see it in person, but it’s eerie and solemn at the same time.
It’s even more amazing person. It was so interesting to learn about the structure and history of this huge monument. To see how far the original structure actually went out to when it was first built, to learn about the decay and looting that took place, it was all surreal. Especially since it was so long ago. I look at these huge structures and think “How is this possible?”
Our tour guide showed us photos of what it looks like today, compared to what it looked like when it was first built and was in use. The difference is astonishing. It even used to have a canopy roof that was retracted with huge wooden posts. All of those columns at the bottom were entrances, which allowed guests to get in and out of the colosseum within 14 minutes. I guess they sat around counting each time to make sure this method was efficient and still working. It’s absolutely crazy to think of 60,000 people entering that structure, all within 14 minutes.
My favorite part was Forum Romanum. It’s the ancient center of Rome, that still has some structures still standing. We even got to see the rock that Julius Caesar was cremated on. Here are a few photos from the Forum!
Something interesting about the first photo: See that door in the center that much higher? Nobody can reach that door currently, but it was used at one point. They covered the city with dirt because they wanted to forget about it. The dirt covered everything and was so high, that door was the entrance point. When you see it in person, you really get an idea of how much of the city was covered. We were standing where dirt was once covering everything we were looking at.
Today, we went to Vatican City! Just as anything else so far, it was amazing to see in person. The structure of these old buildings just really amaze me. How did they build such beautiful buildings without the technology we have today?
My absolute favorite parts about the Vatican was the church. It’s the largest church in the world and it breathtaking.
To feel so tiny in manmade structure is a feeling that is hard to come by. When you stop and look around at all of the detail that goes into making these buildings as beautiful as they are, it’s easy to see why it’s so important to see.
That’s all for today. Ciao!