Rome (Day 6)

The Colosseum!  We'd seen it from the outside but now it was time to go in.  I was glad we had gone to the smaller arena in Nimes and listened to the graphic audio guide.  It gave us a good background on what went on in ancient arenas.  The Nimes arena held 24,000 people, the Colosseum held between 40,000-70,000.

The floor is gone so you can see the underground tunnels.

Ancient recycling.

It was fun to see how much Chris loved
being in Rome.

After the Colosseum we walked to Saint John Lateran.  This site was the home of the papacy before the 14th century.  Now it is the cathedral of Rome and one of four "mother churches" of the Catholic church.  Nearby are the scala sancta which legendarily are the steps leading to Pontius Pilate's chambers.  Pilgrims come to visit them but can only climb the stairs on their knees.  We wanted to see the stairs but the area was closed.

These doors were originally on the building that
housed the Roman senate.  They were moved to
this site (probably not this church) by a medieval pope.

Libby was very proud of taking this picture.

While we were walking we passed by this shop that apparently sells clothes and items for priests and nuns.

Isaac being a good big brother and giving
Luke a ride.  You can see Luke's multiple
layers in an attempt to keep warm.

We went to the Santa Maria in Trastevere
again while mass wasn't going on so that we
could look around.

Final Italian Pizza

After pizza came limoncello. . . 

Our final gelato.  This shop had some unique flavors.  I had chocolate rosemary and lemon, honey, ginger which honestly tasted a little like soap.  Everyone else made better flavor choices.

 Ciao Roma!