Sunday May 20th

Coliseum

After a long day of travel and sightseeing on Saturday, we woke up a little later than normal this morning before we set out to see more of Rome. We began the day at the Coliseum, one of Rome’s greatest attractions. Used for public events ranging from the battles of gladiators to animal hunts, the massive amphitheater was one of the Roman’s greatest works. While much of the original Coliseum has been lost over time, it was still amazing to see such a historic piece of Roman culture.

Roman Forum

Following the Coliseum our group made the short walk to the Roman Forum. Unfortunately very similar to the Coliseum, much of the Roman Forum has decayed over time. It was still incredibly interesting knowing that I was walking over the ruins of what was once the center of Roman culture. In addition to seeing the ancient buildings and structures, the Roman Forum is also home to the cremated remains of Julius Caesar. As an ode to his great power during his rule and the Roman people’s respect of their former leader, there were actually fresh flowers placed on his grave. 

Pantheon

We concluded our day of touring by visiting the Pantheon. Unlike the previous ancient structures we visited during the day, the Pantheon is remarkably still intact even though it is almost 2000 years old. Our teacher explained to us that the Pantheon is perhaps the most influential structure in terms of architecture and construction in the history of the civilized world. In fact, the Pantheon is still the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome. From a building perspective, I cannot imagine how difficult this task must have been so long ago. Released for the day, a small group of us ventured to a local restaurant for an early dinner of pasta and other local Italian favorites. Tomorrow we are visiting the Vatican which I am sure will be an impressive trip.