Nothing was booked for today and a sleep in was needed although I still got up earlier so I could research the best option to see the Colosseum and avoid the long queue. Once everyone was up and ready we walked to catch the double decker sightseeing bus which allowed you to buy a ticket that jumped the queue. Yes it worked and we got in fairly quickly. The sun was shining this morning and we were in awe at our first sighting of the Colosseum. It was 
colossal...obviously! Another pinch me moment to believe we were actually here. We explored the inside, taking photos at every possible angle and Toby providing us with some history about it so we didn't need a tour guide. Way to go Toby! |
| House on Palatino Hill |
Just across from the Colosseum, was the Palantino Hill and Roman Forum, another truly amazing site of old ruins. We wandered the hill, and at several points seeing beautiful views of Rome. The hill overlooks the Roman Forum, which is just as well as we really didn't have time to explore all of this too. You could easily spend the whole day visiting these three places but we had to keep moving as the Pantheon and Spanish Stairs were on our list for today too.
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| View from hill |
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| View of Roman Forum |
We jumped back on the sightseeing bus and hopped off at the nearest stop to the Pantheon. It was a bit of a walk to get to it but there are always fabulous buildings or statues/monuments to see along the way...or more armed guards with big guns, so the walk is worth it. After the Pantheon we had to walk back to the bus stop to take us to the Spanish Stairs. By this time, the sun was starting to set giving us a lovely view of some of the things we saw yesterday. By the time we got to the Spanish Stairs, it was dark and a bit disappointing to find that it was closed off, I
think due to the public holiday (Epiphany) for Italy today. Never mind, we sat down at a lovely restaurant (food, seating and toilet were well needed by this stage) and headed back to our apartment, happy and tired with what we achieved.
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| Pantheon |
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| Beautiful sunset |
It was misty and dark when we set off on the bus on our Pompeii tour but as the sun rose, the mist cleared and it was looking to be a beautiful day. As we got out of Rome and down the freeway into the countryside, we could see some gorgeous snow capped hills and mountains. I was a little bit surprised at seeing snow south of Rome and thought we would see it more as we travelled north. I saw a couple of cute little Italian villages that covered smaller hills with fortresses at the top.
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| View of Mt. Vesuvius from Naples |
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| Umbrella Pine |
I couldn't believe how many ruins had been excavated. Apparently they have only excavated 1/3rd of what was covered by the ash nearly 2,000 years ago. The Roman bath house was still quite in tact, even the mosaic floor. Some of the ceiling and wall decorations were partially preserved and its marvellous to think that such detailed decorations occurred this long ago. We saw beautiful views along the way whilst walking around the ruins and of course Mt
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| Such detail on arch ceiling in Bath House |
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| Mosaic tile floor - Cave Canum means "Beware of the Dog" |
active and may blow at any time. Yet life must go on and after the eruption of 79AD, civilisation crept back in and rebuilt a new Pompeii which is down the road from the ruins. The ground is so fertile that you can grow just about anything and this is why people still live here as its their livelihood. It would be a beautiful place to live, however, the threat of the volcano possibly blowing at any moment would put me off.
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| Hard to believe this volcano did so much damage |
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gorgeous photos :-)
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