Ciao From Rome!

Colosseum

Ciao from Italy, Rome! Finally, after a gruesome 12 hour flight we arrived to our first destination, Rome. I finally get out of the airplane and outside it is hot and very humid.  Living in California should have prepared me for this type of weather but even I couldn't stand it, and I knew my siblings couldn't stand the heat either. But I knew that the three days we would be staying in Rome would be a blast and they were!

During our trip, we went to the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the Spanish Steps, the capital building, and the Trevi Fountain.  We walked from very early in the morning until late at night.  That morning we went to the Colosseum.  Riding the metro for the first time was a lot of fun, but the Colosseum was even better.  You can't even imagine the size of this amphitheater as it was the largest one back then and is still the largest today.   This amphitheater was able to hold 50,000 to 80,000 people   I was walking on the same place where people almost two thousand years ago sat and cheered for the gladiators fighting for their lives below.  The columns holding up the amphitheater stood like giants waiting to crush the people below.  Each column was built without cranes or any type of machinery we have today and yet they are gigantic, and are full of details.  How the people built this Colosseum without the technology we have today amazes me. 

After the Colosseum we walked to the Roman Forum which was nearby.  The Roman Forum was the center of government in ancient Rome. The Roman Forum was a huge area of land where there once stood important government buildings.  Surprisingly the Germanic people who invaded Rome weren't the cause of the destruction of the Roman Forum.  What really destroyed this great area of land was that the buildings gradually crumbled after Rome fell. The large area of land became so isolated and bare that it soon known as the Cow Plain.  Today, the only thing left is parts of the buildings, and exquisitely designed columns and arches.  Right outside the Roman Forum just a couple blocks away stood the capital building of Rome.  As you can see in the image the building full of details with statues everywhere.  We came at the right time and saw the change of the guards.  Both guards were in sync the whole time they did their salutes. 

 

View of the Entire Roman Forum

Capital Building

Delicious

Our adventures had just begun that afternoon as we still had a lot of sightseeing to do but first we had to get gelato because isn't that what Italy is known for.  Before I even had one bite of the gelato my mouth was already watering seeing all of those delicious flavors.  There was a gelato shop at every corner in those narrow cobble-stoned streets that we walked through.  In a large cup, my 3 siblings and I chose and shared 4 different flavors every day until we were sure we had tried almost all of them.  I wish I could eat gelato every day! 


The next day we went to the Spanish Steps.  The Spanish Steps were built in between 1723-1726 by De Sanctis the Spanish Ambassador.  It was built in the Piazza Trinità dei Monti and it has a church at the top of the steps.  This Piazza also has this large fountain in the center.  Rome is full of different piazzas with miniature monopoly type cars driving around.The cars were so small they looked like monopoly cars.  We also saw horse carriages that carried people from place to place.  A couple blocks away was the Trevi fountain.  Even though it was under construction, the statues and the fountain still looked amazing!

Our last stop for the day was the Pantheon. The Pantheon is an ancient temple in Rome that has a round dome.  It was built by Hadrian and dedicated to the Roman Gods.  Pantheon means the place for gods and it became a Christian church and later a shrine.  Famous Italians kings were buried there and even the Renaissance painter Raphael was buried there as well.  As we were exiting this breath taking temple, we got caught in an extremely heavy downpour of rain with thunder and lightening. Living in California we don't get so much rain, and I have never seen lightning or heard such loud thunder.  We hid under the Pantheon for a half hour, and then ran to the nearest cafe to get something to eat. 

What we saw these two days Rome was just the beginning and there was still more to see.  To find out how we finished our fabulous vacation in Rome, look at my sisters blog, Come Somersault With Sarah.  

Have you ever traveled overseas? 

Where did you go?