Day four

We got up around 7:30, adjusting a little better to the time today. We walked to the meeting place for our ancient Rome tour at the metro station outside the Colosseum.  After meeting up with our tour guide and getting our little headset receivers, we walked across the street to the giant amphitheater.  It was really interesting to see this monument in person, and to feel the man made structure, thinking about how this was all put together. 
The inside left a lot to the imagination, but still gave reflection to an ancient civilization where fighting and killing for sport was the norm.  The special effects of rising underground platforms and overhead tarps that covered the sun showed the brilliance of early roman architects. 

After getting our fill of photos inside the arena, we went to the roman forum and palatine hill.  The forum was mostly in ruins but what we learned about different sections of the city, various emperors, and the "lasagna" of the buildings built on what was left of other buildings.  Emperors like Augustus, Nero, and Constantine left their mark, although some were not as popular with the people and traces of their buildings were wiped out or looted.

After our tour, we visited the "mouth of truth," where you stick your hands in and if you are a liar, they would be "magically" removed.  We had dinner at a little ristorante off the path, apparently at the end of the lunch rush. The owners pushed the daily special on us, Lasagna, which was very good. We did some more touristy shopping, and headed to  Il Vittoriano, the gigantic white marble building that celebrated Italian unification in the nineteenth century. Even though it's a structure that the locals apparently dislike, it did have some amazing panoramic views of the city skyline. 

We enjoyed some 7up and Fanta, which tastes a lot like carbonated orange juice here, and headed back to the hotel.  We only took a short one hour nap, soaked our tired feet, and went back out for a nice dinner followed by crepes with nutella.  Headed back to the room, took an inventory of our roman loot, then headed to bed. Anna had to yell "silencio!" to the loud street crowd that gathered outside our hotel at the gelateria. After singing a bit, they dispersed and we got to sleep.  Tomorrow: we head to Florence!