Italy - day 3 morning (Roma)

Was split between ancient Rome and St. Peter's. What an amazing day! It was long and a bit cold but so worth it. Ancient Rome is amazing! I can't believe that I'm looking at buildings that are so historic. Here are my favorite pics from the Colosseum and Roman Forum.

The outside of the colosseum. This place has such a gruesome history. I cannot even imagine all the yucky stuff that took place here.

 Inside the Colosseum. They rebuilt part of the floor so you can see what it used to look like and still see all the animal and gladiator cells underneath. Right now, we are looking from right above the emperor's box. This is what the emperor would have seen when he was in the Colosseum. 

A closer look at the animal/gladiator cells. There was not much space, room, air or anything else below the stage. Here's a better description of the architecture. All the sloping surfaces were once bleachers. The floor had trapdoors (pretty advanced for the time frame).

Part of the Roman Forum. There are a ton of ruins in this area. It seems every emperor had to build something bigger and better in pretty much the same place. There isn't much left.

 This plaque shows us the place where Caesar was cremated. It was rumored that he was killed in the Roman Forum but he wasn't, he was only cremated here.

The navel of Rome. :) Called that because it was once the center of Rome.

  

At one time, Rome had 12 triumphant arches. This is just one of them. They are beautiful. The carving in the stonework is incredible.

 A  view of the forum from the other side. This view allows you to see the column ruins a lot better than previous picture. 

Here is a peek at St. Peter's Basilica. I was completely overwhelmed by the size/scope of this building. Here is a quick reference. So those letters in the gold band? They are seven feet tall. See that ledge above the letters? It is big enough to drive a city bus on it. Yeah. It's that big. The following pictures are more images of the basilica. Allison was able to sing mass for the most important cardinal of the basilica. We asked our tour guide why he was so important. She told us that he will probably be the next pope. It was definitely interesting.

That little white building peeking over the diagonal roof is the Sistine Chapel. We had free time on this day so we walked through the tombs. It was a little freakish. The tops of the tombs are all engraved stone to look like the cardinal inside. We were glad we went down there as we were unable to see them the next day.