This morning we got up bright and early to catch a cab for an 8:30 tour of the Colosseum. The taxi services here have been somewhat challenging. There’s been times when we’ve luckily caught some, times when we’ve been overly charged, and times when we can’t get the taxi. We started messaging the taxi company at 7:15 am, and at 7:43 they told us they’d be 11 minutes. By the time we actually got to the meetup place it was around 8:40. We know that we were going to be late and I had attempted messaging the company, that didn’t help. When we found the Walks of Italy people they gave us our tickets and we went back down to the Colosseum to use them. Well, that didn’t work. They must’ve used our tickets on somebody else which means we had to buy tickets. And you know there was a line to buy tickets right. So we bought the tickets went back through security. The one guy had seen us before, so he was nice to just let us go through, but we still had to go through the metal detector. The other challenge sometimes with some of the places we go to is they don’t give you a map. And we didn’t get a map today either. But we had an audio tour that we downloaded while we’re sitting in the ticket line, and we used it a couple times. There were a number of English-speaking tours, so we listened in on some of their tour guides speaking.

The Colosseum is a site to see. We had really good weather today. So we were able to do as much as we could at the Colosseum. We were fortunate to find a lift. Because damn those steps are pretty steep and that was not gonna happen. The arena is huge. Throughout the visit, we were happy to find the displays in multiple languages, including English. On the second floor it was really cool to see everything, including where they would sit. It’s amazing that it fits 80,000 people. There are a few NFL stadiums that are either the same size or larger, including AT&T Stadium (Dallas Cowboys), Lambeau Field (Green Bay Packers) and MetLife (Giants), there are many other NCAA football fields that hold up to 108,000.

Although substantially ruined by earthquakes, stone robbers taking spoils, and neglect, the Colosseum is still a renowned symbol of Imperial Rome and was listed as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World.

Here are some fun and interesting facts about the Colosseum – or at least they interested us. 

• The Colosseum was built by tens of thousands of Jewish slaves that were brought to Rome by Emperor Vespasian. It took almost 10 years to build the Colosseum and was completed in AD 80.
• The Colosseum is the largest amphitheater ever built and could hold up to 80,000 spectators. It was used for various events such as gladiator battles, animal hunts, and public executions.
• The original name of the Colosseum was the Flavian Amphitheater, named after the Flavian Dynasty of emperors who built it.
• The Colosseum has been severely damaged by at least 3 massive fires and 4 earthquakes. It has undergone multiple repairs and renovations to restore it back to its glory over the years.
• The Colosseum is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is considered one of the greatest architectural achievements of the Roman Empire. It’s also one of the most visited tourist attractions in Rome
• In addition to animal hunts and gladiator battles, the Colosseum was also used for nautical battles. The arena was flooded with water, and battles between ships took place.

Today was my second day of realizing that I am more prone to dehydration than I anticipated. I felt a little lightheaded at times inside the Colosseum, but I was fortunate to find seats to sit down on and drink some water, so we moved on. After our tour was over, we started walking to the Roman Forum. I needed to sit down again so we did. We sat next to a water station, which was completely convenient. And free. So we filled up some water bottles with nice cold water and I drank all of that one bottle and filled up a second time. My back was really bothering me. I don’t know what we did yesterday that would’ve hurt it, but it was a long day yesterday. I leaned down to just stretch my back and I think I passed out. Which I’ve never done before. I found myself on the ground and an American man, came over to help me up. I didn’t even realize I was on the ground. I think it was only for a few seconds, but it was still unusual for me and embarrassing. I sat and drank more water. We decided instead to go get lunch and some fluids instead of going to the Roman Forum that too completely is full sun. Disappointing not to go there cause it looked kind of cool, but well, my bad.

While sitting and drinking, we realize that behind us, there were archaeologist excavating still at the site. Kind of cool.

After lunch, we were excited to quickly find a taxi who drove us home. We both took a couple naps and were drinking the night away.

Here are a few things that we saw either on the hop on hop off bus or while in a taxi.

Tomorrow we leave Rome and head to Pompeii, which also is in full sun, so I will be filling up water bottles to carry with me.