Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Easter Sunday and Coliseum



The weather cleared on our first day, so it’s off to the Vatican for Easter Sunday morning with Pope Francis.  Basically we waited for two hours with a million other people listening to Italian choir boys singing.  Corban and Leo had the best view up on Allan shoulders.  Finally when the Pope came out the crowd cheered and we were in fits of laughter, he was so tiny.  We didn’t even feel like we were that far away or that the balcony he was standing on was so big!  San Piero square was amazing and the crowd was very packed in, but it was certainly something to experience.  Now that we were hot and tired we headed towards the Coliseum to meet up with the ‘Limmers’ (friends from school).  The Coliseum was AWESOME!  We had to wait in line for a while, Leo fell asleep on my back supported by my back pack, snored his little head off for about an hour.  The Coliseum was big and impressive; the Romans certainly knew how to build stuff.  It began being built in 79AD and was finished in 80AD, we thought this was pretty quick for how big it is.  We found out lots of interesting facts such as, it is estimated that 20,000 people died in the Coliseum in the first month of opening  (nothing like a big festival to get the games rolling).  It not only had gladiator and beast fights but was also filled with water for battleship fights! It seats about 50,000 people and has been used as many things throughout the centuries such as fortress, quarry and Christian shrine.  A magnificent but also very gruesome place!  That was enough for us today, we went home all hot and exhausted.  Rome is a busy place on Easter weekend!  We have to pinch ourselves every so often ... in Rome with friends!!

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