Colosseo

Do go inside if you can – it’s impressive from the outside, but it’s amazing to look down right into the areas below ground level.

This is another place that I’ve been that when you are there you have a feeling of wow, then you look at the pictures and you can’t believe you were there.

Just got back from Rome, what an outstanding place full of energy and life yet so much history. So easy on one hand to get a sense of the majesty and power of ancient Rome while absorbing the style and culture of the flamboyant Italians.

A filling came over me; first in 2002, the same filling when revisiting in 2006 –scent of death, mine or someone’s related. Odd is that it carried a filling of warmth, kind and overwhelming, felt like serenity @ work, – )~

I didn’t get to go in, but the outside was awesome to look at. If you plan on taking a tour, be prepared to wait for a very long time. It is very busy, and very hard to get in. It is still worth it to just walk by and look at the outside though.

When I went there, we were supposed to go in the morning as a tour group, but there had been a power outage the previous night so we worried we wouldn’t be able to go because security wasn’t working. Fortunately, a group of us went during our free time that afternoon, stood in the line which was really quite fast, and it was so amazing.

It’s in the middle of a traffic circle. You get up to the top and realize that the floor, which was wooden, has rotten away, leaving all the chambers below, where the lions and convicts and Christians awaited their fate, exposed. Feral cats live there now. An unsettling feeling comes over you when you think about how much blood the place has seen.

I loved when you enter the Colosseo by the “gladiator’s entrance”...you cannot help but think about all the images of gladiators that you have in your head…it totally made me feels like a gladiator in the old roman empire era!

Was there just last Monday! There was only a small queue – but it’s January and not so touristy. We did the guided tour – you don’t get to see anything special, but the guide’s info was pretty good.
One thing though, which caused our first Roman experience to go a bit sour: There are people dressed up like gladiators in front of the Colloseum. They kinda gang up on you, hang swords and helmets around you and propose to take a picture with your camera. This all happens really fast, so a bit dumbfounded we agreed. After they took two pictures, it was: pay the boss. So okay, how about 5€? They asked 10€ per person first, that’s 20€! Then it was 10 for the both of us, but we only wanted to give them 5, which caused a huge argument with these guys. So don’t get caught by surprise like us, and avoid them or agree a price before they take the picture.

Can’t imagine so much blood was shed in this strangely beautiful place. A reminder that humans can be so cruel sometimes.