Italy: Rome (Colosseum)

Today we did all of the ancient Rome stuff starting with the Colosseum. As we headed down the street we were greeted by an enormous wall of scaffolding covering one side, yay! This seemed to be a common theme travelling Italy in the off-season, they fix stuff up now before summer. Luckily we bought tickets online before we went because the line was horrendous (Joe 1 - world 0).

Joe's first glimpse of the Colosseum! 

There it is! 

Inside the Colosseum 

The crowds weren't too bad once we got inside and it was really great, much bigger than I thought it would be. The stands are probably the same height as the Gabba but the "field" is a bit smaller.

Us... and the Colosseum

I continued my career as official tourist photographer. Seriously I get asked to take more photos of other people than I take myself. Do I look like I know what I'm doing, or do people want their photo taken from a height (Kate got asked once and we heard the girl say to her friend "nothing a little photoshop can't fix" haha).

Kate trying to squish a squishy splat pig (to death) that won't squish - in front of an audience

This is a splat pig - The latest craze with the illegal street salesmen outside of all the main tourist attractions in Rome. Apparently they disintegrate after a few days spreading sticky stuff through your bags. Good times.

After the Colosseum we went across the road to the Palatinate and Roman Forum. This area is filled with ancient ruins and was pretty interesting.

Your ticket to the Colosseum also gives you entry to see many of the other ruins in the area

Local youth soaking up the culture

On the way to find some food we went by the Alter of the Fatherland which is a rather ostentatious monument with very serious looking guards making sure no-one sits on the steps or leans on anything.

Altar of the Fatherland

You can't sit on the steps or the Man comes

It was this windy

It's free to walk around the monument and take in the view (this side was much less windy too)

After a gelato from the surliest shopkeeper in Italy (there is lots of competition for this title, mainly in the south) we had a pizza and pasta for dinner for a change. Off to Florence tomorrow!

- Joe