Good morning!

Waking bright and early we went to the train station to get our Roma Pass. With free entry into two museums and access to all city transportation it was a deal we couldn’t pass up. With a map in hand we headed towards the Colosseum. On our route we ventured inside Santa Marie Maggiore.

The church is one of the four major Basilicas in the world. It had the most beautiful tile work and these huge columns running the length of the inside.

The Colosseum is every bit as big and grand as you expect. Even though the structure has clearly not aged well the feeling in the air still feels special. Alison made the joke that maybe we should have started elsewhere because how would we ever beat this?! After declining numerous offers for private guides we used our pass to skip the line and found ourselves overlooking history. It is so easy to imagine and visualize what the people would have experienced.

Walking across the road we passed the Arch of Constantine and entered the Foro Romano, or the Roman Forum. This would have been the hub of both government and general business. Philosophers would have also wandered the cobblestone paths. Palitine Hill (housing for the most part) was beautiful and the foundations for many of the structures remain intact.

We had lunch at this small Pizzeria and took advantage of the free wifi to map out our next stop.

Next stop Palentine Hill which had a museum and some (insert another world for beautiful) art. I bought the audio guide which was quite helpful as a lot of things we had no background on.

A walk to the metro and we were back at our hostel. Exhausted and sore but SO ready for another day!