Colosseum and that damn Rome Pass

 We got a later started this morning since we knew the tourist office didn’t open until 9:30 and got to see the Colosseum today, the Forum, and the Capitoline museums.  These parts of Rome are awe inspiring and Rachel and John got good lectures in about the monuments that we were passing

 and the systems of government that we’re going on at the time.  I see the students rocking back and forth during these lectures at times and others are very engaged, I’m not sure how this is being taken because they seem to be chomping at the bit to run into the settings, but Rachel and John are doing a lot to put it all in perspective and make it a learning experience.

   They are building a trap door in the Colosseum floor at this time in order to make it clear how this vast space operated.  We couldn’t figure out what they were doing with the wood and the saws until one of the men dropped the door and walked down it.  I wonder if they are going to have lions come rushing up it in order to be realistic in the future?  On to the forum and my favorite part of Rome. 

 Walking where Julius Caesar and Cicero walked (and everyone else that you’ve ever heard of from Rome).  It’s sad to see the state of disrepair, but it is still clear how huge, vast, and grand this place used to be.  We got to see the original basilica plan in which most 

 churches are built, which was used as law courts in ancient times.  So, instead of chapels and altars, you have the judge and different courtrooms hearing cases.  There’s a connection there that is not probably very flattering for either one…

 We climbed the Palatine hill and unfortunately, Augustus’ house was closed, but we were able to see the hut post holes that were from the time of Romulus founding Rome.  Only from 800BC…I can’t even fathom the amount of history and time that this place has 

been occupied by humans.  And they started out in huts, but moved on to aqueducts, bathes, and huge marble monuments that we someone lost the ability to do in the dark ages.  It’s a scary concept when you think about it.  The height of a civilization with art, luxury, a 

government that serves the people well and then gone with all of its technology, wisdom, and everything else gone with it.