S-e-c-o-n-d D-a-y I-n R-o-m-e

Big day of sightseeing today. we got the first shuttle bus into Rome at 8am and walked from the Vatican to piazza del popolo. this was basically a large square with a few statues and a fountain and bordered by some incredible buildings. This used to be where they held public executions up until 1826 not that you would know that when you are in the square, it is beautiful and they have no information about these executions. in the center of the square was a fountain with an obelisk in the center taken from Egypt and four lions on the edges of the fountain which were the perfect size for tourists to sit on.
After exploring the square (which had hardly any tourists in it, it is definitely worth getting up early to sight see because when we walked back through the square at 4pm there was hundreds of tourists milling about) we walked the main street of Rome which was a beautiful street with old buildings and lots of cafes and very expensive looking shops. most of the side streets were cobble stoned and very photogenic :-)

We passed a cafe where this nice cow gave Ewen some much needed caffeine

The trevi fountain was incredible, i knew it would be big but i didn't realise just how big, it was tricky to get a photo of the entire thing, and not just because you had to dodge tourists. We did the traditional thing of throwing a coin over your shoulder. and then sat back to take it all in and watch the other tourists. it is incredible how dressed up some of the tourists were, complete with high heels full faces of makeup and coordinated outfits (one woman had on bright red short shorts, a red tight top and red very high heels, it was interesting watching her walk on the cobble stones).
these little water fountains are all over Rome constantly running water into drains underneath them, we are not sure if it is drinking water or to wash your hands or both... it seems like a massive waste of water though!
we went into this wooden toy shop, you could smell the wood from outside the door, they had some incredible things in there, all hand made by the owners (husband and wife). Ewen wanted one of these swords but thought it might be a bit tricky to transport. we could have brought 50 things from here but it was all a bit out of our price range, i got a cork for a wine bottle with a wooden turtle on top of it and we left and headed for the Pantheon.
The Pantheon was having some construction work done out the front but inside everything was intact. the dome was incredible, so high! This was built in 37 BC originally used to honour the Planetary Gods but was later used as a Catholic church, it looked like it was still a functional Catholic church with an alter and pews set up at the front.
This is a big white building we went to, i cannot remember what it was called and Ewen is asleep... but it must have been important because they had security guards running around blowing whistles at tourists who did the wrong thing and they had other guards that stood at the top with guns at the ready.

A fancy BMW scooter with all the bells and whistles

Next on our list was the Colosseum, which we could see from the top of the big white building. This was very impressive, the outer wall was so big!! you see it in pictures but to actually be there in person and see it was incredible. I couldn't believe that a road runs right next to it so people on their way to work are driving right next to the Colosseum.
We deliberated for a long time on whether or not to go inside because it was quite expensive and the line was very long but I'm glad we did go in. the line was huge and we waited for over an hour to get in.

me and Ewen waiting patiently

Ewen occupied himself posing in the background of other peoples photos.

some of the people in front of us, the line went right around the corner.

Finally we got inside!! Pretty much everything seemed to be left as it should be apart from at one end they have constructed a mini stage i suppose to show you what it would have looked like back before the stage caved in, the maze you can see in the bottom was under the stage and was where they kept the gladiators and animals. they had a pretty bizarre collection of animals fighting in this arena over the years including ostriches, rabbits, lions, tigers, bears, panthers, hippopotamuses and crocodiles. at one stage they apparently filled the arena with water and put sea creatures in it. this arena used to hold 50,000 spectators!

Outside the Colosseum was the Arch of Constantine where no less than three bride & grooms were posing for photos. we also saw two more wedding parties posing in front of the Colosseum, obviously a very popular place for Romans to get their wedding photos taken... kind of like the capital in bendigo hehe!

our ticket into the Colosseum also included a visit to the roman forum and palatine so we headed there next.





Peek-a-boo!

After leaving here we went and had some lunch, we didn't take photos so i won't put it in the food blog (sorry Rik) I had fruit salad and raspberry cheesecake and Ewen had pasta. When we finished it was 3.45pm and we decided we wanted to catch the 4.30pm bus back to the hostel so we started a very fast walk back to the bus stop, which was a very very long way. when we looked it up on Google when we got home it was about 7km from our lunch spot to where the bus leaves from.
we just made it before the bus left with Ewen running ahead at the last little bit to stop it at the traffic lights. we were exhausted!! and my poor foot has blisters in about 4 different places.