Our second day in Rome was a bit more on the ancient side, although we ended up spending most of the day walking. I'm exhausted thinking about how far we got...
All of the photos from this day were taken on my phone, unfortunately, as I had heard due to heightened security that people were being turned away for taking in oversize purses. This turned out not to be the case, but having not packed my camera, I had to rely on my iPhone. Sorry!
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| Here we are waiting for our tour to begin. |
We got to see the Colosseum from the stage level on our tour. They reconstructed a small section of it, which was pretty freaking cool.
Here's a view of underneath the stage, where they think they stored the props and hoisted the animals up through trap doors for the shows.
As part of our tour, we got to go underneath to the "backstage" level. We walked through a passageway to get there, which was probably used for sets and animals...they think they gladiators walked through another side.
We then walked up to the third tier on our tour, which is the highest the public is allowed to go. The seats were divided into tiers by social class and the fifth tier was the highest (reserved for slaves and poor women, according to our guide). I would guess the third tier was some kind of middle class tier? At any rate, we got a good glimpse of the city and the Roman forum from there.
View from the third tier.
What is left of the Colosseum is kind of the skeletal remains because it was used as a rock quarry from the fall of the Empire through to the 16th or 17th century. That fact blew my mind! I wonder how many buildings are built with Colosseum stones?!
Luke in the Roman Forum (don't tell him this picture is here!)
Then we walked over to the Trevi Fountain, which was under construction. The water was missing, but we still made our wishes and hope that coin toss assures our return to Rome.
Then made our way to the exquisite Pantheon before walking back, getting lost and then having a three hour nap.
I'm tired just thinking of that day.
We then spent our evening at a little cafe called Coming Out, which ended up being one of our best experiences eating in Rome. It's a cafe-cum-gay bar that not only has a huge range of food at reasonable prices, but also has a great little B&B and seems to have a lot of really cool parties. It is quite tiny, so I wonder how they fit everyone in for their events. But the food was good and the atmosphere friendly. If you're at the Colosseum, I recommend it. But skip dessert at Coming Out and get gelato from the gelateria to the right of it a few storefronts down. Perfect combination!
We then spent our evening at a little cafe called Coming Out, which ended up being one of our best experiences eating in Rome. It's a cafe-cum-gay bar that not only has a huge range of food at reasonable prices, but also has a great little B&B and seems to have a lot of really cool parties. It is quite tiny, so I wonder how they fit everyone in for their events. But the food was good and the atmosphere friendly. If you're at the Colosseum, I recommend it. But skip dessert at Coming Out and get gelato from the gelateria to the right of it a few storefronts down. Perfect combination!
Me and my boyfriend are thinking about planning a trip to Rome, it looks like such a cute place for an adventure. I'll remember the tip about the ice cream too! Love Jen,
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You should definitely go! It is so gorgeous! xx
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