On our first day in Rome we walked the 15 minutes it took us to get to the Coliseum and Roman Forum. On our way there we stopped in the park right outside the Coliseum for a picnic lunch (tuna sandwiches!). We sat in front of these ruins...no idea what they are, but it was beautiful!
Walking through the park to the Coliseum! I was really excited to see it! This was one of the things I was looking forward to seeing the most. It was pretty impressive and amazing to be standing in a place of so much history! It doesn't look as "pretty" as before since all of the marble from it was taken off to make other buildings in Rome. A lot of the marble was used for St. Peters Basilica at the Vatican.
This was just a really cool picture Eric took of the Coliseum. It is one of my favorites!
This was on the inside of the Coliseum. There was something written on it in Latin so I don't know exactly what it was about, but I do know it was put there to commemorate that many Christians died there. Anyway, it was just neat to see it there.
This is taken from the inside of the Coliseum looking out towards the Roman Forum and Imperial Palaces area. This is the Arch of Titus in the background. It was very impressive and had so much detail!
This is the inside of the Coliseum. The platform straight ahead is a recreation of where the floor is supposed to be. Above it is the seating area where the Emperors sat. You can see all the different "cells" or whatever they're called, below where the people/animals were held until the games began.
Just a picture of Eric and I at the Coliseum. :)
This was inside the Imperial Palace/Roman Forum area. This was inside one of the ruins. It was an illegal picture because we weren't supposed to be in the alcove (blocked off) but we did it anyway...carefully! :) Christina is the other girl in the picture who was travelling with us.
This is looking out over the Roman Forum. Behind the Temple of Divus Romulus. If I remember right (mom, dad??) this was later converted to a christian church or something? Or was that the temple of Antoninus and Faustina which is next to it?
We found this really cool overgrown fountain as we were wandering around the palace grounds. It was really pretty and provided a bit of cooler air which was a nice feeling in the 100 degree weather!
Looking out over the Roman Forum again. This is the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina.
This is inside the imperial palace grounds again. I believe in the Domus Augustana (built by Domitian). This is Eric's favorite picture from Rome he says. :)
This is the stadium, also part of Domitian's Palace. The palace area what HUGE! We could have spent hours and hours walking around it, but we were hot, tired and hungry! It was all so amazing to see, especially considering how old it all is and the history that took place here! So cool!
I will do day two in Rome later!
Well, our goal this weekend was to finish the fireplace (which if you look a couple blogs down, you'll see what it used to look like) and clean the kitchen up! It was a disaster zone as you can see by these first two pictures!
Here is the kitchen with the freshly painted wood stove back in place. We decided to paint it brown for a bit of a change and I think it turned out quite nicely! The tile floor is still coming up in places, but you can't see it in these pictures so it still looks nice. :)
