Thursday morning, we started out with one of my favorite places – the Colosseum. Hopping on the metro once more, we got together and found our tour guide rather quickly, managing to avoid many sketchy gladiators. Once inside, we met our tour guide, who first led us to the understructure of the Colosseum. Though I had been here before, I did not get to see below and above the normal layer the public is open to. It was neat to see the cages and cells where gladiators would have stayed before their fight, and where the animals were, as well as the places slaves worked. A still present underground canal with water for sewage was there, and a few spots where a pulley system had been installed to raise up animals and gladiators for an element of surprise on the wooden stage that would have been above.
Soon, we traveled all the way up to the upper level, where we stood below construction workers on scaffolding, looking out at the site below us. After snapping many shots with friends and listening to the various fights and performances of the gladiators, we were pointed out to see the nearby gladiatorial school. A surprising fact was that gladiators only fought around three times a year, and many less were killed than many assume today.
After a steamy morning, we set off for lunch in a group together, in a restaurant just up the hill. With a set course menu of lasagna, gnocchi, and spinach and cheese ravioli with tomato sauce, it was a delicious sampling. After lunch I tried a sip of Italian coffee, though I found it too strong. Sadly, I forgot to take pictures of this awesome lunch, but here was where we ate, taken as I was walking away:
After lunch, we wandered over to the Palatine Hill. Though we were going to visit the house of Livy, we shortly found it was closed. We were then let free to explore, and several of us wandered the hill’s various gardens and ruins, mostly emperors’ houses and property. Many of the ruins were not blocked off, and we could walk around in them, and even stand on some of the lower walls. It was quite fun, and I enjoyed climbing! The Palatine seemed like an amazing open space to hang. Though it was twelve Euros to enter, and I am not sure us cheapos would go back without being paid for, it has become one of my favorite spots thus far.
After wandering around with intentions to go to Hadrian’s Mausoleum (now Castel St. Angelo), we soon realized we had spent so much time in the gardens we were low on time. Instead, we headed down into the Forum on our way to the Temple of Venus and Rome, sitting at the ruins for a while to snap shots and write in our journals. At the signs of sprinkling and thunder, we headed back to campus to get ready for dinner and catch up on blogging.
That night, a group of us wandered down to Trastevere in search of cheap eats. Looking at menus down various side roads, we came upon a place with great prices, a big menu, and fast service. Happy, I had pesto gnocchi, which was very filling.
After dinner, before heading home, we checked out the piazza in the center that we had been in on Monday. At night it is very social, and we watched a spray paint street artists for a few minutes before heading home on the bus. We were very confident to be traveling around on our own without getting lost, and it was a good day indeed!
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