Rome: Part Two

Photos at the Coliseum.

Our last full day in Rome, we visited many of the ancient ruins for which Rome is known. In order to ensure we would not have to wait in a long line to get in, we went straight to the Coliseum in the morning. We waited about 30-45 minutes (not bad!). It was also good that we went earlier in the day, because after we left the Coliseum and went to get lunch before visiting the Roman forum and Palestine Hill, it began to rain, a lot. The Coliseum holds about as many people as Lane Stadium holds; it amazes me that something on such an enormous scale could have been built at a time when our modern machinery was not available. Stepping into it and thinking about what happened there when it was in use is really an overwhelming experience. Crosses throughout the Coliseum seemed a bit ironic to us considering how many people died in the arena for entertainment value alone.

After the Coliseum, we went to lunch; luckily, when it began to rain, we were in the cafe already. We waited it out a little bit, then decided that it would be a good time for an indoor activity. We went to a small church with relics of St. Valentine (his skull) and "The Mouth of Truth." This "Mouth of Truth" is a concrete wall sculpture of a face with an open mouth. The story behind it is that if you stick your hand inside the mouth and it doesn't bite you, you are a truthful person, if it does bite you, you are obviously otherwise. We all passed the test!


Photo of the military band.

At that point the weather began to look a little better, so we decided to head over to the Roman Forum. (We is Ashton, Kristina, Megan, Danett, and I.) On our way we passed by the Circo Massimo, once a race track for other games, but now an open green space. There was currently a military "fair" of sorts going on in the area. We never entirely decided what it was, but it was kind of fun to see the officers, the military band, tanks, the horses, etc...

The Roman Forum and other ruins surrounding it were much more expansive than I had imagined. I was glad to get to see them this time in Rome, as last time we tried to find them at the very end of our trip there and almost missed our tour bus. It continued to rain a bit while we were there, but once it had cleared up, the sky made for beautiful photography.


Photos at the Roman Forum.


It was getting into the late afternoon at this point, so we decided to slowly make our way back to the hotel, stopping in a church recommended to us by another student, Ryan C., who had been there his last time in Rome. It had one of the most incredible ceilings I have ever seen. You couldn't tell where the painting stopped and the structure and the walls began. It felt like you could walk, well float as its a ceiling, right into it. There was a large mirror which you could look into angled up towards it; the way in which it was placed made it feel as if there were no ground and that you were floating somewhere within the painting. It was impossible to get a good photograph, but we tried.

Photo into the mirror looking up at the ceiling.


The next morning we left Rome to see Hadrian's Villa and spend one night in Gubbio, a small medieval town in Italy.