Mattias-
Today was the busiest day of the trip so far. We made our way through the baths of Caracalla, the Roman Forum, and the Colosseum, all before lunch!
I was woken up as usual by the annoying sound of the hotel wake up call. After around 20 minutes of actually waking up we had to rush to get showered and downstairs for breakfast. Breakfast was it’s own ordeal as we didn’t actually know where the dining room was and a group of us had to search around the lobby for where we were supposed to get food.After a nice breakfast of eggs and some pastries we boarded the bus to head to the ruins of the baths of Emperor Caracalla. It was a short bus ride, and the whole day most of our traveling was on foot.
Once we arrived, I was amazed at the sheer amount of land that had been set aside for the construction of the baths. They were symmetrical with actual warm and cold baths in the middle, surrounded on both sides by areas for exercise.
After we walked through all the baths, we boarded the bus again for a short ride to the Roman Forum. Before we had even stopped the bus we had all caught sight of the Forum and Colosseum, which were much bigger than I had originally thought them to be.
We arrived at the Forum, and walked a short way to where we ended up right beneath a majestic arch which depicted an emperor returning from a triumph in battle. We were urged to use our imagination to envision beautiful colorful paint on the walls instead of the white and gray that was shown today after years of weather and rust.
After walking all around the Forum and seeing many wonderful statues and busts, we exited and began making our way to the Colosseum, which was just a short ways away. The Colosseum was one of the most impressive ruins I had seen so far on this trip. It was a massive structure with doors surrounding the entire thing.
Once we walked in, I could see why it was such a big hit with the ancient Romans. It had tons of space inside for all kinds of entertainment. It was great for panoramic photos as it had high, complex walls all around the building.
Looking down, you could see where the gladiators would have fought in the ancient times. After about a half hour of walking around the Colosseum, and checking out the awesome gift shop, we grouped back together and began to head out for lunch.
Will McCrory-
Today was a good day. We walked a lot. After walking so much we were really hungry but we were rushed because of today’s tight schedule. We went and found some lunch for ourselves near the forum. I went to a cafe thingy that was pretty much identical to everything around it. Every place around the area we ate was trying to charge 9,10, or 11 euros for a sandwich which is stupidly over priced. So I settled for a mediocre sandwich. After we ate in a little park I drank from one of Rome's many water fountains that flow perpetually as they did in ancient Rome. We walked to the Capitoline museum and saw tons of sculptures that were ancient or from medieval times. Marc, Luke and I played would you rather the whole time in a range of topics that left Luke in awe of what we could come up with. The statues we saw were amazing. We saw what was left of the temple of Jupiter and it was pitiful. All that remained of a once massive temple was a stupid little wall. It is annoying that most of what we have left of the roman structures is ruins.
We left the museum and went to see a Jesuit church that was breathtaking. The the painted ceilings, sculpted granite, and ornate fixtures mesmerized me and everybody else on the tour. We left there and headed to the the pantheon. The pantheon used to be a Roman temple but has since become a church. It is a large circular dome and has a huge hole in the ceiling. It is cool to see such a large structure that was made so long ago and is still around.
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