Day 8: A hands-on history lesson (Hooray! You made it to the last day!)
This was probably my favorite day in Rome, even beating out the amazing Vatican experience. Weather was warm and sunny, so I really got to see just how beautiful of a city Rome is. Plus, I'm a bit of a history buff, and I got to learn first-hand what ancient Rome was like by walking among the incredible ruins in the heart of the city.
We started the day at the Colosseum where women got in free for some random women’s appreciation holiday. Once again, luck was on my side, or at least on my budget's. To treat myself, I got an audioguide, which really gave such comprehensive background about how the Colosseum was built, what it was used for and of course, information on the gladiator battles. It’s really such intriguing stuff. I just wish I could see what it looked like during its hey-day. The Colossuem is legitimately huge. All of its arches kind of reminded me of the old Busch Stadium, actually.
A view from outside.
Inside, amidst all the excavation work that's been done to show all the cages beneath the old arena floor where animals and equipment were kept.Pam and I spent the rest of the day exploring the Palatine and the Roman Forum, both areas of Roman Empire ruins dating back to the earliest centuries. Pam and I had so much fun, randomly exploring these ruins and discovering the history behind ancient castles, gardens, stadiums and forums. Our method of sightseeing was find a sight, look it up in this amazing guidebook I brought along, and read what it’s all about. That’s pretty much how we approached our entire Roman trip. See following photo:
We had a nice lunch basking in the ruins in the sun. I felt so at peace and never wanted to leave.
People basking in the ruins. We soon joined them.Here are a couple more pictures of the Palatine and Roman Forum.
A stadium that was part of the Imperial palaces built in the 1st century A.D. They are not exactly sure what it was used for.
The Roman Forum with the Palatine hill behind it.
Me and the ruins.
In terms of what we saw, you really need to look at the Facebook albums, which gives some background on the ruins and buildings. Just copy and paste this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2241844&l=28e35&id=1592183
The end of my break…finally. Thanks for hanging in there with me. We caught another early flight from Rome to London on Sunday morning. It feels good to be back, but it's always hard going back to school and work after a vacation.
Final thoughts on my first mainland Europe trip:
-Being in France and Italy made me realize how embarrassed I am to speak only one language fluently. Almost everyone I encountered was able to speak English as a second language, and perhaps another language as well. I think that American schools should put an even greater emphasis on having kids learn a foreign language at a younger age. The experience really put this in perspective for me, and I realized as I was trying to somewhat converse with my Argentinian roommates in Spanish, that I really wanted to buffer up my Spanish a bit before I go to Spain for two weeks at the end of my time abroad. Yeah, I’ll have Pete there to guide me, but it’s not the same. I don’t want to get by just knowing the standard, “Please,” “Thank you,” “Sorry,” and the worst, “Do You Speak English?”
-I love traveling. I’ve always liked it, but it was really fun planning my own trip this go-around, as stressful as transportation issues were at some points. It gave me confidence for future trips.
-Pete and I are better than ever. The Paris trip was one of the best times of my life. I can’t wait to see more of Europe with him during our future adventures.
OK, I’m done. Until next time…
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