Rome - Day 2

Day two in Rome was our Colosseum day! Chris had put forth a lot of effort to try to get us tickets and was able to score some attic tickets around noon.

We started the day by heading to the Roman Forum, which was pretty incredible. We started out at the Arch of Titus on the Via Sacra.

There were so many ruins to see, but it was impressive how much still remained.

You could see the Colosseum at the end of the Forum.

We saw the court and House of the Vestals, the order of priestesses who were pledged for 30 years to serve Rome's hearth and flame. 

You can see the Vestal Courtyards and much of the Roman Forum in this picture, plus the Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine in the top right (the arches) which is significant because it was the last basilica built in Rome and the largest building in the forum.

We also saw the Temple of Vesta (the columns on the right) and the Temple of Castor (left) which date from 14 BC.

We saw the Stadio Palatino, probably a place used for exercise and sport, outside the Flavian Palace up on Palantine Hill.

We saw the Temple of Saturn, and the Curia Julia - the Senate building (seen through the pillars with the triangle roof.

Then we walked over to the Arch of Septimus Severus.

We saw the place where Julius Caesar was cremated - the Temple of Caesar.

This building, the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina was potentially the coolest, because the green door at the top of the stairs indicated where the ground level of the Via Sacra used to be in Michaelangelo's day, before excavations started.

Here is a view down the Via Sacra:

And then we went up to Palantine Hill where you can see the Arch of Constantine:

From there it was time to head to our Colosseum tour.

Our attic tickets apparently only sell 8 per time frame, so when we took the elevator up, we were literally the only ones up there! It was so cool.

It was amazing to view the Colosseum with  no one else around.

The hallways were empty.

It was amazing to see graffiti from the time Jesus walked the earth.

After all those tours we took a break for some gelato - raspberry for me this time.

Then we all showered, changed, and headed out for a walk before dinner. We walked up Capitoline Hill and saw the Mamertine prison, where theoretically Peter and Paul were imprisoned and where Paul wrote 2 Timothy.

From there we wandered up to the Victor Emmanuel II monument, which was massive. This was made for the first king of unified Italy.

There were always incredible views from up on Rome's hills, including this one of the Colosseum.

I found a church bearing my name while we wandered.

We headed to Campo de'Fiori for some free prosecco and appetizers.

And then it was out to dinner and home to get ready for an early morning at the Vatican!