Rome, Day 3

On my third and last day in Rome, I headed to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum/Palatine Hill areas. Throughout my entire time in Italy, I had learned that if I wanted a good picture with myself and a good background, I needed to have someone who spoke English take the picture. I had a lot of pictures taken where I or the landmark was cut out of the picture or I was placed directly in front of the landmark. Like many places in Italy, there were English-speaking tour groups all over, so I would just stop and listen to a guide for a while and learn a lot for free.

The Colosseum

A different angle of the Colosseum

An interesting view of the Colosseum

The inside of the Colosseum

The underground passageways in the Colosseum, where animals and gladiators were kept

The Roman Forum area had many ruins, including Caesar's temple which is a shrine located where Julius Caesar's body was burned after he was assassinated in 44 BC.  

The Roman Forum area

The Arch of Titus

The Temple of Julius Caesar

The Basilica of Constantine is one of the ruins.  The remaining arches are huge, about 75 ft.  There were similar arches directly across from them, supporting a roof 130 ft. high.  

An arch of the Basilica of Constantine

Parts of the Forum, the Basilica of Constantine to the left

Roman ruins

Yet more ruins

Part of the Palatine Hill area

I met back up with my Australian friends that afternoon and we wandered around Rome a little more.  We went to the Castle Sant'Angelo, which has a very interesting history and was built as a tomb for Roman emperors but has served as a castle, prison, refuge for popes, and as a museum.  We stopped at a market on the way back to the hostel and I bought Italian sunglasses for 5€ ($7.50).  Back at the hostel, I only had time to quickly eat my free pasta and then head to the train station to catch the subway to get on a bus to get to the airport to head back to Germany.  

My Australian friends and me

The Castle Sant'Angelo

While spending so much time with the Australians in Rome, I was soon picking up Australian slang and abbreviations.  I had toast for "brekky," talked about my home "uni," cooled down in the "air con," and ate at "Maccas," Australian for McDonald's.  In an effort to try new things, I tried Vegemite, a popular Australian spread.  Rachel Dengler told me she had heard it tasted like eating "hairspray and garbage."  I thought it tasted more like sweaty socks smell.  

Vegemite