Rome...part one

On Monday morning we set out for Rome. For whatever reason, we had problems purchasing two second-class train tickets and ended up getting two first-class tickets. It was quite a bit more comfortable and a lot cleaner than the other train rides we had been on, but it was significantly more expensive. At least they served us a snack.
The first thing we did after we found our apartment/Bed and Breakfast was to check out the Colosseum. It was really cool to see it. We bought tickets for a tour of the Colosseum and Palentine Hill. We learned so much. I walked away from the Colosseum with similar feelings as when I visit the Great Wall of China. There's such an amazing sense of history! The Colosseum was built in 80 AD and most of it is still standing. Our tour guide told us many interesting things. You're probably aware that the Colosseum was used for competitions between gladiators. Gladiators were typically prisoners and they would compete with one another or against animals like lions, wolves, etc. We learned that the losing bodies of the gladiators were drug off stage where they were quartered and their blood was drained into vials which people would buy and drink thinking that a person's power was in their blood (not their spirit). We also learned that one of the emperors thought to flood the Colosseum so that competitions on boats would take place. The boats would ram into each other and the gladiators would be hanging on for their lives because not only would they be risking their lives by drowning, but there were alligators in the water as well.
While I certainly don't agree with the practices that went on at the Colosseum, it was humbling to stand there and take it all in. How could a civilization take so much delight in the death and slaughter of other people?
We did, however, get some cool pictures of the Colosseum at night.
Our guide mentioned that contrary to popular belief, Christians were not killed at events at the Colosseum, but under the rule of Emperor Nero (he was a crazy little emperor) Christians were executed and burned at Circus Maximus where they would hold horse/chariot races. There's not much left to Circus Maximus now...it just looks like an open field.
Palentine Hill was where some of the emperors lived...quite extravagantly, I might add.
From Palentine Hill we could see the Forum which is where all the political events took place. Here's a picture of the Forum with the Colosseum in the background.
The next day, we started early so we could make it to our Angels and Demons tour. It was really cool. If you don't know, Angels and Demons is a book written by Dan Brown and most of the action takes place in and around Rome. We spent the morning walking around the "Path of Illumination" and learning a variety of things about the area. We saw Andy's all-time favorite statue, the Ecstasy of St. Teresa.
Our tour took us to the Castel Sant' Angelo, the Pantheon, St. Peter's Square and Santa Maria del Popolo.
We had scheduled another tour called "The Dark Heart of Rome" for Tuesday evening, so we just walked around Rome and went in a ton of Cathedrals that I can't remember the names of and tried to save up energy for the tour. I will say this, the cathedrals in Rome sure are ornate!!!
On our night tour, my favorite story was that of Bruno. Bruno was killed/burned at the stake for speaking out against the church. He claimed the Christ was just a magician. He later became a symbol for freedom of speech. I thought his statue was really cool looking with the moon behind it.