Gus and I were super excited about a day in Rome; we are both history nerds and having read so much about this city, it was such a blessing for us to be able to go. Someplace I for sure never thought I would see in my lifetime!
So we got up super early and left. As you will notice from this picture below, there are no children pictured. That's right...we toured Rome without kids! Some super gracious people oversaw all 6 children for us so we could have a day away. In Rome! This allowed us to move very quickly and we pretty much saw all the major tourist spots. It was so fun and such a treat! And I think the kids had more fun playing at home.
The steps from the bottom, looking back up
And then it was time for a coffee in a tea room. It was like a museum inside and their choice of sweets was amazing!
We took the subway all over the city and were super thankful for Massimo's extensive knowledge of the city. It was so relaxing to have him guide us to all the touristy spots and not have to consult the map or worry about where to go next. It made for such a fun day!
Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano. This door that I am standing in front of is opened every 100 years and if you walk through it, according to the Catholic church, your time in purgatory will be lessoned. Susannah was telling me they opened it a few years ago and the line to go through it was so long that they had to open another door.
These steps are the Scala Sancta and are supposedly the same steps that Jesus walked up, on the way to his trial. There are drops of his supposed blood underneath glass scattered on them. The stairs can only be climbed on ones' knees and once you get to the top, your time in purgatory will also be lessoned. Honestly, while the building was very beautiful, covered with frescos, the atmosphere was very heavy and oppressive. Seeing these little old ladies, who could barely walk, were torturing themselves to climb up on their knees was so sad; you could almost feel the helplessness of the people desperately clinging to man's traditions.
Here you can see the glass with a supposed drop of Jesus' blood.
Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore
This is what we saw when we entered the station to get to the Colosseum. Honestly, I've never seen so many people in one place before and it was a bit scary. We slowly followed the wave of people down to the platform and onto the subway. The subway was just as crowded, as you can see from the next picture, and we were all very conscious of where our wallets were. Thankfully nothing happened and we kept saying how thankful we were that we didn't have our kids with us-a stroller in and amongst this crowd would have been more than a little challenging.
And then, as soon as we reached the exit of the subway, this was our view. It was breathtaking to see the Colosseum so suddenly just pop into view!
We took the tour of the inside and learned so much about the history of the Colosseum. It was totally fascinating and worth it! I hope you will pardon my indulgence of posting so many photos from inside, but I couldn't help taking and shooting photos from all the angles and levels inside. Enjoy!!
On the second level inside the colosseum, the awesome view behind was of the Roman forum and palace
The arch of Constantine, which sits between the Colosseum and the Forum
Once done with the inside of the Colosseum, I tried multiple times for the best shot in front of it. Don't know if I accomplished it or not, but it was fun trying!
The arch of Constantine from the ground
Ok, since this post already has 40 pictures, I will post part two separately :) Thanks for reading!!
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