Days 3 and 4: The Roman Forum and Coliseum

DAY 3

Day 3 was a flood of ancient Roman history. After we slept in and ate another Hotel Verano breakfast, we made the trek down to the forum: the political and cultural center, marketplace, and basically heart of the Roman Empire. After buying our tickets, we saw lots of ancient artifacts like jewelry and pottery, but the architecture was the most incredible.

We saw where the town used to be, including public bathhouses, the main marketplace, and ruins of other old buildings. Right in town we also saw remains of Temple of Saturn, Arch of Septimus Severus, Arch of Titus, and Arch of Constantine (lots of the former emperors built arches in predecessors' honor). 

Overlooking the forum is the Palatino ("Palace") which contains the House of Augustus (Caesar) and huge, gorgeous gardens. We saw where Augustus and a few other emperors lived; the house contained beautiful mosaics covering the walls and ceilings. The Palatino also used to possess the Temple of Apollo, and the gardens are home to the stadium of ancient Rome, where the citizens used to go to race, play sports, etc. Just down the street lies Circo Massimo, the location of Rome's chariot races and a model for circuses throughout the Roman Empire. You can really see how crazy cool their culture was-the buildings were all covered with art just because it is beautiful.

After a quick break for lunch (we actually ate at a normal time yesterday, thank goodness). We headed towards the coliseum. On the way there, I discovered my ticket had fallen out of my back pocket! A guard approached us and asked if we had tickets, and I explained that I had lost mine. He told me that the line was an HOUR long, or I could walk all the way back to the forum and buy a ticket to the coliseum, which would also take a long time. I was so ready to just let Nick, Mukul, and Micah just go in without me since they could just go straight in, but instead we decided to try and pay the ticket people to let me in, because the guard suggested that as another option. However, the ticket people were actually being strict about scanning tickets. Because I didn't want to make them wait with me, I desperately decided to let go of my morals and cut in front of some very lost, very confused-looking tourists in line.

So, I only had to wait in an hour-long ticket line for about 5 minutes. We went in the coliseum, and it was so worth it! The stadium was home of the infamous gladiator fights in ancient Rome, and I learned that very rarely did gladiators actually choose to fight; most of them were prisoners or criminals who were given a death sentence. When a gladiator lost a fight, he could either choose to die or ask the emperor (who presided) to spare his life. Sometimes, they brought in animals to fight too (elephants, big cats, bears, etc), and sometimes they even flooded the bottom of the coliseum and had naval battles, which I thought was really interesting. I also made friends with some college students from the University of Georgia.

After the coliseum, we decided to visit San Giovanni, another Papal church. When we walked over, they wouldn't let Micah or I in because we were wearing shorts, so we had to sit outside while Nick and Mukul decided to have a look. It started pouring rain, but it was awesome because seeing the huge marble statues outside against the contrast of the dark sky was so ominous/cool-looking. 

DAY 4

Today was a definite "chill day." We went back to San Giovanni so Micah and I could see it, and it was so worth it! It was almost as beautiful as St. Peter's. I just need to stop saying the word "beautiful" and its synonyms, but I can't because literally everything in this city is SO beautiful. 

Anyways, then we found a few more random churches and a Piazza, so we just hung out and ate lunch outside. Then we went to Campidoglio, the city's capitol building, where a bathroom attendant yelled at Micah in fierce Italian for we-have-no-idea-what, and I got kicked out of a museum for entering in the exit. Not being able to understand when you're being yelled at is a wonderful thing because we can't even know what to feel guilty for/don't have to listen! It was a great and very relaxing day!

Anyways, Ciao Rome, we're off to Florence!