Day 3: Rome

This morning, we started the day with a full tour of the famous Coliseum, where gladiators used to fight. It's a very impressive building, even now, after almost two thousand years and being plundered by the popes to built St. Peter's. We decided to skip the line for individual tourists and joined a group, to have the benefits of both not waiting in the huge, hot line and to have a guide show us around and answer questions. The tickets for the group also included a tour of the ruins on the hill next to the Coliseum, which are the remains of the huge palace of Roman emperors. This hill is also where the twins Romulus & Remus founded the original city of Rome (well, really it was just Romulus, because he murdered Remus here). By the time we finished both tours, it was around 2:00 pm.

We then hopped onto one of many bus tours of Rome, where we drove around and heard about many of the ancient and modern buildings. That was pretty interesting as well, although honestly we were both fairly drained from the long morning tours and the very hot sun beating down on us.

So, we are now spending the afternoon in the hotel, drinking water and trying to cool off a bit. Tonight we'll find a new restaurant for dinner. We also purchased advance tickets to a morning group tour of Vatican City (St. Peter's and the Sistine Chapel). So, we figure that will cover most of the essential Roman sites, and we'll be able to leave by noon for our next city.

One thing that's both wonderful and terrible for me personally is that every block, there are 3-4 gelato shops. I love gelato! I figured I earned some today, but if I lived here, I might have to learn to avoid the temptation.

Pictures below are: (1) us with the Coliseum in the background, (2) one corner of the emperors' palace (the first emperor built an indoor chariot racing track here, so the photo is of the track and his personal box seat), and (3) the outside of the Coliseum.