Over 26 million visits tour Rome each year. Bart calculated that is about 72,000 people a day. The Colosseum is the 3rd or 4th most visited place in the world. These statistics made me grateful the tour got us up early and although Rome was chillier than I would have liked I don't think I want to come to Europe mid summer.
A little bit about what I learned from the Colosseum tour. It was built in like 7 years which is incredible considering its size. I guess that's the advantage of owning a ton of slaves. In it's prime it is calculated that is held about 55,000 people but the tour guide mentioned it's suspected they could have squeezed in closer to 80,000. The bottom section was for dignitaries such a Senators and of course the King. The walls inside the Colosseum were lined in marble and over time has been recycled into places such as the Vatican. "Box seats" for the rich were on the same level as the arena so a "guard" was placed right under the seat and if an animal like a tiger or bull jumped over the barricade the servant would tackle it before it malled the person. There were bathrooms on the main floor for the dignitaries. They would have their servants go ahead and warm up the seat and they would often discuss "deals" on the pot with other dignitaries. The upper levels did not have toilets. According to the tour guide they just used gravity. Yuck! Women were allowed in the Colosseum. If you were married you sat next to your husband but if you were not married you were in the nose bleed section along with the other servants.
As we ascended upwards on a stair case
The Roman Forum was fascinating. To think all of this has been excavating as civilizations simply built on top of their cities. Years ago someone decided to expand the metro system to make it more accessible to the Vatican but they keep running into more Roman ruins so progress is "piano, piano" meaning very slow in Italian.
After our tour was over we made our way back to the motel and stopped by this Chapel to see the famous "Moses" sculpture. Bart learned that the reason why this Moses has horns is strictly a lost in translation error. When the bible was translated from Hebrew to some other language and then into Italian the Hebrew meaning of rays of light around him translated into Horns.
We went back to the Hotel and made our way down the street to this eclectic restaurant with a ton of stuff hanging on the walls and ceilings. Bart noticed this picture of John Belushi who is shown here eating at this joint.
After a nice restful nap we all got in our Sunday best and headed to the Rome Temple Dedication.
The next morning before daylight we were on our way to the airport for a long journey home. Here's our last shot of Rome.
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