Kid in a Candy Shop!

My dad was sick of eating croissants, if you know him, you can imagine how this could be.  He's a man that likes his breakfast and the traveling was beginning to take its toll on him.  The man needed a real breakfast.  We searched high and low and finally came across this....

 

I can't believe we did it, but we went in.  We were surprised to see that they don't have any breakfast food on the menu, and yet were open for business at 8 am.  It took about 30 seconds for me to cave and I had to look the other way while we had cheeseburgers, big mac's and fries for breakfast.  Luke, Emry & Grandpa thought they were in heaven.

After our bellies were full we rode the bus over to the Colosseum.  Luke and Grandpa were absolutely giddy.  We walked around the top and then decided to take a tour of the underground areas.  Such a cool learning experience!

Arch of Constantine

The Roman Forum across the street

This is the beginning of our behind the scenes tour.  We got to walk out onto the stage area.  Of course this is all new construction because the original was also made of wood and rotted away long ago.  It puts the Colosseum in a different perspective standing here and looking around.

The original seating would have been covered with marble or granite like these seats.

These are the underground tunnels.  This one lead to where the gladiators had their sleeping quarters.  This way they could be attached to the Colosseum at all times and didn't have to deal with traffic or people.  Their living quarters were out where the road lies today.

This is where the pulleys and winches would have been attached to pull the boats and other props in and out of the stage area.

View of the tunnels from the under the stage.

Original flooring

this stream is ancient.  they don't think it was ever used to flood the arena, not big enough.  it was most likely used to feed animals and etc.

After touring the Colloseum, we ate sandwiches from a street vendor and fed the pigeons.  After our break, we walked through the Roman Forum.  On our way to see the Forum, we had excellent views of the Colloseum and the Arch of Constantine.

These were once homes, like a studio apartment I guess.

The Forum was the center of the Rome's government.  All the government offices and important buildings were located here.  It was also a marketplace.  Processions, elections, public speeches, trials, spectacles...everything happened in and around this area of Ancient Rome.  It's where you went to see and be seen!

Remus & Romulus

The kids and I decided to take one last bus ride around town to see the sites again before we turned in for the night.  We had to get up early in the morning to catch our plane home.

Castle Sant'Angelo & Ponte Sant'Angelo (aka hadrian's tomb)