Colosseum

Today was a day of ruins. I had bought tickets to visit the 3^rd ring and the underground of the Colosseum, but no actual entry tickets. The entry tickets include the forum, palentine hill and the Colosseum. We ended up getting our entry ticket at the forum, there was no line up there at all in the morning. We had not booked any tour for the forum and palentine hill, which are actually done from the same entry. When we first started we were taking our time looking at all the signs, it didn't seem too large an area we needed to cover. Then we went up Palentine hill, and an entire other area is up there, along with some beautiful views. Our touring around sped up then, we had nearly 3 hours before our booked tour of the Colosseum, but it went by quickly. This was by far the hottest we have been since we arrived, I cannot imagine what it is like in here in the summer time. I kept looking for shade, and fountains to fill up water bottles, not too much of either around. In hindsight it is a lot to do these 3 things in one day, and even though we didn't have a guide for the forum I think it would have been just too much to have one here too.

Be careful how much room you leave when parallel parking, people squeeze in anywhere they can.  This parking method was not uncommon to see

Church services are done here on Sunday, Max 30 people the sign says.

Views of Forum from outside

I love the pillars

Gardens on Palatine Hill



Looking down from Palatine Hill

Nice views of Coliseum from Palatine Hill 

Purple flowers for Mom

Security on horses as well

Next we are off to the Colosseum for our tour. This is supposed to be one of the hardest tours to get on, and I experienced total frustration with their website when trying to book it. You can only book it on the 3^rd Monday of the month, for the following month. There are thousands that try to book the tour, and they only take about 10 people at a time, and you are competing with the tour companies that buy the tickets for 11.00 Euro and resell them as a tour for 100.00 Euro. Along with this a hard to navigate website, that I actually practiced buying earlier so I would know my way around. Anyway I got them the first day, then got an email the following day saying sorry even though it went through on my credit card it was being credited and I could try to book again. I was extremely lucky and was able to snag 2 tickets for today.

We both really enjoyed this tour. It was about 90 minutes I think and you are taken out on the stage with only 10 people there which is amazing, we also go up to the 3^rd ring which you can only access on the tour, as well as the Amazing tour of Colosseum underground. It was good to hear the history and how things worked when the emperor put on these events.
 

Before out tour we were able to walk around on our own.  We saw people out on the platform to Andre's right, little did we know this was where we would be soon on the tour!

Model of how the Coliseum would have looked

A recreation of what the elevators would have looked like underground, 8 slaves would have turned the cranks that you see to lift the animals up.  You can see many of these elevator openings all around the floor ruins, it must have been amazing to see them popping up during the events

View from 3rd Ring

We loved the name of this bar/restaurant



Where the gladiators stayed and their practice ring, just across the street from the Coliseum

After this we did a little more walking around. At the Largos Di Argentina ruins they look after stray cats, loads of them hanging out in the day time, we didn't see any the other night when we were by here. Some of these cats were in pretty rough shape, there have been a few cat fights, but none looked hungry and lots of tourists around taking their pictures.

We made a wrong tour on our way to look at some last churches that were on our list to see, so after a few discussions, we decided best to stop and pick up a piece of pizza and get ourselves back on track for the afternoon.

We started off visiting Basilica di San Pietro in Vincoli, this church is famous for 2 things. The chains that were supposedly used on Saint Peter when he was imprisoned near the Roman forum are here. There is also a beautiful sculpture of Moses by Michelangelo.

chains that were supposedly used on Saint Peter when he was imprisoned near the Roman forum

Moses by Michelangelo

Next we went to Chiesa di Santa Prassede, which had beautiful mosiacs again. We have seen so many beautiful mosiacs since we have been here. This church is dedicated to a heroin who hid the early Christians and the ones she couldn't save she buried in the well.

Mosiacs in Chiesa di Santa Prassede

Final church of the day is Basilica di Santa Maria Maggoire. We had to go through security to get into this Church. It is one of Rome's four Patriarchal churches, and is considered part of the Vatican, even though it is no where near the Vatican. At the entry to the Church there was a young man selling tickets to go up on the balcony, Andre doesn't miss a chance to go up on balconies so up we go again. There is a very nice original mosaic here from the 5^th century that you get close to on the balcony, it is the original outside of the church. We also were taken back to the popes rooms, where we saw some beautiful ornamental religious clothing, lots of gold and silk. From here we were also taken back to see a beautiful staircase by Bernini when he was 19 years old. It is still in use daily today by the priests and nuns that go through the back spaces. Bernini is also buried here.

I loved this door at Basilica di Santa Maria Maggoire, you can see where many touch Mary and Jesus hands

Basilica di Santa Maria Maggoire

Another climb to a balcony

 staircase by Bernini when he was 19 years old, still in use every day



The church is part of the Vatican state, that is why it is all surrounded by a fence

We next started to head home. There is lots of security out preparing for March 25 EU 60 Years of Rome Treaty conference, will not be a fun day to be in the old town in Rome, we have seen posters around for organized protests, we will not be anywhere near here.

On the way home we heard some music coming from a small church. Another free concert, a soprano and baritone accompanied by organ. A great find, and it gave us a break for about 30 minutes before we continued on our way home.

Scooter sharing

Nobody climbing today, we assume it is for security because of the EU conference tomorrow

Free concert that we stopped at for a few minutes at a little church we passed on the way home.  Funny what we call a "little" church now

Home for quick break, check trip advisor for places to go for supper in our area. Sad, but our area is known for our restaurants, and this is our first night out here. We have a great meal. Where we ended up going was actually more like a bar, with outside seating and a limited menu. We got the last table outside, and they had a live band so great music as well. I had excellent lasagna and Andre had carbonara spaghetti since it is a Rome specialty.



One of the 2 free rounds of Limoncello we got to finish the meal with

It was only about a 15 minute walk home from our restaurant. We passed through the Piazza Santa Maria in Trasvetere and got a gelato for dessert and listened to some great street music. So many people hanging out in the Piazza, it is a beautiful night and a busy Friday night.

Home at 10PM, another new record 38,392 steps today, time for bed