My Italy Diary: Rome, Part 2

October 9, 2005


We woke up at about 7:30am this morning, had breakfast in our room and headed out for the day. We walked to the area of Rome that has the Colesseo and Roman Forum. On the way we passed the ruins Arca Sacra which is viewed from the street level looking down. There are hundreds of cats, which are fed by the residents and a foundation that takes donations. We decided to visit Palatine Hill before the Colesseo (you can buy tickets for both Palatine Hill and the Colesseo at the Palatine Hill ticket office). You have an incredible panoramic view of all of Rome from the hill—quite breathtaking. 

The Roman Forum is below and it is amazing to look down upon the ruins with the Colesseo in the background. The rain has stopped and the weather is beautiful, sunny and, at times, hot.

After we left Palatine Hill we headed to the Colesseo, and while impressive due to its shear size and being in awe of the mechanics of building such a monumental structure without equipment to ease the construction, once inside there’s not much to see. The areas of most curiosity are not open for tour. 

The Forum is magnificent! I truly wish Amanda was here with us. We walked around for hours, trying to see it all. We were very tired at the end of the day and made our way back to Piazza Navona. We decided to again have dinner in the Piazza as the people watching is great. We shared a bottle of wine, and later ordered smoked swordfish, and then lasagna and, of course, another bottle of wine. After dinner we walked around the square, looking at the art and watching the families make their evening stroll.