Day 77 - A Long Day of Touring Rome

Where do you think the first place to go is when you reach Rome?  If you said the Colosseum then you are correct.

700,000 people died over the life of the Colosseum.  It was free for Romans to attend the "games" but they were seperated by class within the 60,000 seat stadium.  One random fact I picked up is that the word arena actually means sand.  Sand was placed on the floor of the Colosseum to soak up the blood and over time the word came to be synonymous with stadium. 

The next stop was the Roman Forum, which happens to be right next door.  The Forum is comprised of the ruins of ancient Rome, many of which are still be excavated. 

After the Forum it was off to the Pantheon.  On the way I noticed a crowd gathered on the sidewalk watching a man carve.  He was turning carrots and beets into various small figures over the course of five minutes. 


Nearby another man was spray painting pictures. This may not sound exciting but take a look at the picture below.

No idea how he does it

The Pantheon itself was a bit dissapointing.  It did not really compare to all of the churches I have seen in different Europen cities but it was still cool because it is almost two-thousand years old. 

When I heard that St. Ignatius of Loyola church was only a few blocks away I had to pay it a visit.  It was far more impressive but I may be a little biased because of where I went to school.

St Ignatius of Loyola

The book that St. Ignatius is holding is inscribed with the phrase Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.  As anyone who went to Loyola knows AMDG is inscribed everywhere on campus so I felt like I was back in Chicago. 

The last stop of the day was Trevi Fountain.  The fountain is located in an alley and actually forms the side wall of a building. 

Just walking around Rome was amazing.  There is so much history everywhere you look, a feeling that is hard to re-create in the United States. 

I have two more days in Rome and then its off to Venice.  From there I will be making my way to London with stops in Switzerland and probably Paris (If the French stop striking). 

Scott