Rome: one more day to go!

Our time in Rome was a long weekend from Thursday to Sunday, which was a good amount of time. If you're stopping in Rome for just a day or a few hours, you'll have to really choose what you want to see and leave the other stuff for another trip back.

Surprisingly, November seems like an ideal time to go. You don't have to battle the crowds like you would during the summer or any school holiday and you don't have to deal with stifling heat (so I hear) that the summer months also bring. My guess would also be that prices are also seriously inflated during high season as well. Outside of one day of light rain, the weather was decent while we were there, with highs in the mid-60s and lows in the upper 40s.

So far, we'd seen many of the monuments in Rome and been to Vatican City. Our Saturday was spent in the ancient city center of Rome, touring the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, Roman Forum and Circus Maximus. Of course, we also had to make our daily stop at the Pantheon to visit it one more time before we left.

Outside of Colosseum

The Colosseum was an easy walk from our hotel. I would highly recommend booking a tour in advance- either a private tour guide or one of the tours the Colosseum offers. Right now, they are offering a tour called Underground, Colosseum and Third Ring, which is what we did. It was really interesting. Also, if you reserve tickets beforehand, you get to skip the long line that everyone else is in, which is great.  I think if you just buy a regular ticket you only go on one level of Colosseum, which is not much.

We started the tour on the floor of the Colosseum, so you could get an idea of how it felt to be in the center of everything. The tour guide gave a good amount of history about the Colosseum (originally called Flavian Amphitheater) including information about the gladiators (mostly slaves) and how it was built. Unfortunately, like many other monuments in Rome, all of the valuable materials have been stripped from the structure.

Only remaining seats viewed from the floor of Colosseum

We then went into the Underground, which was where animals that fought were kept in waiting and gladiators entered and exited through tunnels. Interesting fact: at some point during the 100 day inauguration of the Colosseum, the underground and floor of the stadium were flooded and they had boats battle. The rooms underground were built after that, but you can still see where the aquifer brought in water.

Ruins of Underground rooms

The third ring of the Colosseum is the top level and has just recently been opened back up to the public for touring. It appears that renovations are ongoing, so I'm guessing they may open more at some point. The third ring would have been considered the worst seats in the house, but does boast a great view of the entire Colosseum along with Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum.

View from the third ring

Palatine Hill overlooks the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Circus Maximus. Numerous palaces are located on the hill, with various structures being built by emperors throughout the years. The structures are all in ruins, but it's worth the walk up to look around and explore. The site has good signage explaining what each area is/was.

Ruins of a circus used for animal exercise and display

The Roman Forum is not what we were expecting- it's actually a square in the middle of ruins that is where significant events took place in the city center. I think we were expecting a building of some sort, but the Forum is surrounded by large structures and a number of funeral monuments, including where Julius Caesar was cremated. You should go see it though- ultimately it was where ancient Rome developed and the center of commerce in the city, pretty significant!

Roman Forum

View of Forum and Palatine Hill

Just on the other side of the Forum is a "new" building (1925) that most Romans hate- the monument to Italy's first king who united the country. It is a massive building that doesn't necessarily fit with the ancient architecture that surrounds it; it is also disliked because it was essentially built on top of the ancient city center of Rome, which seems to mean much more to Romans than this new building.

Altare della Patria- monument to Italy's first king

From there we saw Circus Maximus, which used to be an ancient Roman chariot racing arena and large entertainment venue. Now…it's pretty much just an open field. BK and I should have researched this one a little bit more, as we were disappointed after walking up on it, and actually weren't even sure if we were in the right place.

Circus Maximus

We ended our day with some shopping in the city center, then enjoyed sitting on the Pantheon Piazza for a snack and people watching. We had a great dinner at a place right around the corner, then headed back to the hotel to watch the TCU game.

Our Saturday night view

We headed back to Basel on Sunday afternoon, so we didn't do any additional sightseeing. We enjoyed sleeping late and our last Italian lunch before heading to the airport for the short flight home. We've just been in Basel a couple of days, and will be heading to the US shortly to visit for Thanksgiving. Can't wait to see everyone!