When in Rome...

Ever since moving to Europe, Nate has been looking forward to visiting Rome more than any other city. So when we arrived... needless to say... he was SO excited! This picture proves my point.We were exhausted when we finally got to our hotel, but we fought the urge to sleep and went out to see the Coliseum. We went walking down our street for a few minutes... then looked to the left... and there it was in the distance... The Coliseum.
Our first full day in Rome was filled with lots of sight seeing-- more than any other day on our whole trip. But 'when in Rome,' you have to see as many sights as you can (okay, I promise I won't say 'when in Rome' again... haha). Our first sight was Palantine Hill. This prime-location hill was the Beverly Hills of its time. All of the emperors, the emperors' relatives, and other important or powerful people lived here. They had the best views in town. You can even see all the way to Vatican City, but this was non-existent when the Romans resided here.

After the fall of Rome, the barbarians sadly destroyed much of the city, so Palantine Hill took a pretty bad beating. There is hardly anything left of the palaces... just some of the base structures...There were a lot of ruins lying around...

It was worth going to the top of the hill just for the views of the Roman Forum.

Next on the agenda... The Coliseum (this time, by day)

We're inside the Coliseum!

This complex is said to be the greatest example of Roman engineering. A breakthrough for rounded arches and the use of concrete, it enabled them to build a structure large enough to hold 50,000 people. Supposedly, they got everyone in and out of there in about 15 minutes... that's pretty incredible and much quicker than the lines at the RBC Center, but I guess it was faster in the pre-metal detector days.
Though the Coliseum is incredible, some of the entertainment that took place here is quite disturbing. If you've seen the movie, Gladiator, you know what I'm talking about. Slaves, criminals, and gladiators fought to the death and the Romans would cheer like we do at football games... kinda sick. Some say that we are no different because we like to watch violent movies, but I think it's a little different when you know the violence is fake.

The floor of the structure is now gone, but you can see the underground passage ways where they kept hungry wild animals to be released during combats to make it more interesting. I don't know about you, but I don't think that a wild animal attacking a person would be my kind of entertainment!

There were some nice views looking out of the arches...

Next stop... The Roman Forum. The Forum was a meeting place for the Romans. It's where the Senate and Republican government began.
This is the ancient Temple of Antoninus. It was one of the few temples that was later converted into a church.

Original brass doors...

The Temple of Vesta for the vestal virgins

Corinthian Columns

After walking through the Forum, we climbed up a hill to look down at it. We both thought it was crazy that we had just walked where famous emperors like Julius Caesar walked thousands of years ago!

Something that was even better for me than being where Julius Caesar walked, was visiting the Mamertine Prison where the apostles, Paul and Peter were once held. Paul originally persecuted Christians, but once he was converted, he committed his life to serving Christ and telling others about him. He wrote 13 books of the Bible in the New Testament. And Peter was one of the 12 disciples. He might be known as the most passionate one. After Christ was resurrected, Peter made it his mission to spread what he witnessed.

As we entered the small, gloomy underground cell, the persecution that they suffered for Christ became very real to me. This was the last place that Peter was recorded to be before he was martyred. When the Romans crucified him, he asked to be upside down because he was not worthy to die the same way Christ did. There is now an altar in the cell in honor of Peter with an upside down cross on it. There's also a hole in the ground from the miraculous fountain that sprang up while Peter and Paul were there ... then they were able to baptize prisoners.

Nate and I couldn't fathom that we were in the exact same place that Peter and Paul were... they might have even sat on this part of the stone wall!

As we left the prison, we sat and looked out at a part of Rome... and Nate said to me that it was such a triumph for the Romans to build these incredible structures, like the Coliseum, but for Paul & Peter, it was a triumph to die for the sake of Christ... which is a good point.

The Pantheon... untouched by barbarians because it was turned into a church.

I think that's the tallest column I've ever seen. It makes Nate look small!

The Pantheon wasn't my favorite sight in Rome, but the dome inside was incredible. It was way too big to capture in a picture...

Trajan's Column
The Victor Emmanuel Monument. It honors Victor Emmanuel, who was the first king of a unified Italy. It was built in 1935, so it is interesting to me that they are already having to do renovations...

Trevi Fountain

I just LOVE this fountain... there's just something about it

Last time I was in Rome, I threw a coin over my shoulder into the fountain. They say that if you do that it will bring you back to Rome... and it did! So... I did it again. :)

After a delicious dinner and gelato, we strolled around the city and saw even more ruins... and it was beautiful to see it all lit up at night!

Our next destination... Vatican City and a little more Rome!