I’m still going through photos from Italy, and we’ve been home for 3 weeks! I’m right in the middle of a job change, so things are a bit hectic in the Suburban Misfit household. But, here I am late Sunday night writing this blog post. And yes I realize you’re not supposed to start a sentence with “But.” Or “And” for that matter. BUT, that’s the beauty of blogging. I can do whatever I want!

Anyway…One of our favorite things from the trip was a tour of the Roman Forum, Colosseum, and Palatine Hill. Through Eternity was the tour company and our guide Cinzia was fantastic. I have always been a fan of history, but I’m amazed at how much more I can retain when I’m standing directly in it. (I took a Roman History class in college and can’t remember a darn thing from it). Here’s a little taste of our Colosseum tour.

Above is the standard Colosseum shot; and actually, My Stronger Half and I took this photo the day before our tour. Just below the cropped area is a busy street with hundreds of tourists milling about.

This photo marks the start of our Colosseum tour and as Cinzia pointed out to us, this photo of the West side actually does a better job of showing what the Colosseum once was. On the left, you can see the two other layers that used to wrap around the entire arena. A mark of the decay from the past couple thousand years.

One thing so unbelievable about Rome is the destruction that has happened (and continues to happen!) to the ancient ruins. Why has the Colosseum survived such destruction when so many other Roman structures are in complete ruin with just remnants of columns? In 1749 Pope Benedict XIV declared the Colosseum a sacred site on the basis that Christians had been martyred there. Later popes began restoration projects that helped keep the Colosseum what it is today.

Our tour gave us “special privileges” to visit the stage of the Colosseum to look up from where the gladiators would have stood. As with many photos, this one just doesn’t quite do it justice.

Can you believe in ancient times there were ‘season pass’ seats? The white blocks you see stacked in rows between the bricks were seats for the Roman senators. Some of their names are still carved into these stones.They were so close to the action that animals or gladiators would sometimes try to scale the brick wall right in front of them.

This shot is looking down into the underground hallways of the Colosseum. In its glory days, the Colosseum stage (built with wood and sand) would have covered these columns completely.

This large doorway was where bodies of killed gladiators and animals were dragged out of the Colosseum. The number of animals that were slaughtered in the Colosseum during any given period was unbelievable!

The Colosseum just recently opened its underground to tours. Our semi-private tour got us access into this area, but the lighting was poor so I only got a few shots. This one shows one of the hallways that goes from one end of the Colosseum to the other. Keep in mind that this area would have been covered by the stage and was probably pitch black.

Here’s another shot from the underground looking up. The large cross signifies where the emperor and his family would have sat during the games.

Our tour package also included a private tour of the third tier. This photo is my favorite shot looking down into the Colosseum from the top. This view would have been that of the poorest and lowest class citizens of the time. Not a bad view, eh?

I was blown away by the the size of the Colosseum. Especially given that slaves built it all by hand; they carved the stones; carried them to this site; put them together; and built something that held 60,000 people. The Colosseum is truly a marvel from the ancient world.

What’s your favorite photo from this journal? Comment below.