Day 13 (5-23-09) The Inside of the Coliseum

Today was the day of the Coliseum. After a small group of us finished lunch we decided to head down to the Coliseum and actually go inside. We took the metro down from our hotel and then we started to make our way to the entrance of the Coliseum. While walking there we were stopped by about ten people asking if we wanted a guided tour. We said no to all of them except for the last one because the last one was the cheapest and it included a two day ticket that allowed entrance to the Palatine Hill, the Roman Forum, the Coliseum, and the Museum. So after we paid the guide we were ushered into the Coliseum where we met the head guide. It was here that we coincidentally ran into most of the rest of the group. So we took the tour that took us through the Coliseum and then the Palatine Hill. It was a wise choice that we got the tour because I feel that if we did not we would have been totally lost and overwhelmed when viewing the inside of the Coliseum. We also learned some interesting facts about the places like that the Coliseum, for a period of time after its original use, was used as condominiums to house people. After we finished up the tour we took the metro back and grabbed some gelato from our favorite gelato place in Barberini Plaza. After gelato a few of us headed out visited the bone church. The bone church is a church that is nearby to our hotel that has a memorial hallway to many people in which all the sculptures in this hallway are made out of dead people’s bones. It was very creepy to see that many bones on display and to see that it was still an active burial ground for people. It was also disgusting that on some of the skeletons there was still a little bit of dried up flesh on the body. We then regrouped back at the hotel and a few of us went down to our favorite restaurant which is a block away. The name of this restaurant is still escaping me. We then came back and had a few more glasses of wine and we are planning on going to go to bed soon so that way we can get a good night’s rest because we have another long week ahead of us.