Colosseum Tour: June 13, 2012
Being jet-lagged has its advantages when you can’t fall asleep after waking up at 4am and then realize you can get a good sunrise shot of the Colosseum. That’s the first thing I did Wednesday morning and it was breathtaking. I was absolutely blown away as I saw the sun rise and come through the openings of the Colosseum.
After that, I went back to the hotel room to find my brother awake and ready to go (for those of you who don’t know, my brother can never wake up in the mornings). We began our walk around 8:30 (after a less than fulfilling breakfast and warm milk). We headed down to the Vittorio Emanuele Monument and couldn’t get enough of it. It was similar to the Capital building in DC, but way better in my opinion.
From there we ate lunch near the Colosseum and made our way to meet our tour guide Jowita (pronounced: Yovita). We met this awesome couple from New York who was touring the whole country, and after waiting for about 20 minutes for the rest of our group, Yovita decided to leave them. We basically got a private tour of the Colosseum since it was just us four.
We first made our way to the stage area (where only our tour was allowed to go) and we got to see the Colosseum on the inside for the first time. We didn’t say much since we were in so much awe. We took pictures, we listened to Yovita and just took it all in as much as possible.
After that, we got to go underneath the Colosseum for the underground tour. We didn’t get to go through the underground fully, but we did get to see it from underneath where no one else could. Once again this was breathtaking and we all just tried to take it in as much as possible. For me, this was a very intimate moment. Knowing how many people walked through these walls, including fellow brothers and sisters from years passed, to their deaths. I just kind of took it in and realized how blessed I am to live in a country where the most persecution we face is being made fun of for praying over a meal.
The top tier was another fantastic view, not only of the Colosseum but also of Rome itself. Once again, no other group was able to go up there, only our tour (although I’m sure some other tours can go). YAfter that, we got to see the incredible archeological sites of the Palatine hill. I don’t remember much about these sites. Yovita talked about a lot of different things but we did get plenty of pictures and videos, and hopefully I’ll have those up soon.
