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ITALY - DAY 18
Headed out bright and early towards to Spanish Steps. We climbed to the top and admired the view. We saw an artist's painting that we liked, and after we've been to the Amalfi Coast if it is really like the paintings, we will purchase several to take home to hang on our wall.
After leaving the Spanish Steps we continued walking down until we came back to the Fontana di Trevi which we passed and continued up towards the palace of the President of the Italian Republic. Pasqual got chatting to one of the police men who guard the palace before we continued on our way. We passed Mercati Traianei, a massive building from ancient times before stopping for gelato on the steps of the Vittoriano.
We headed back to the hotel for lunch as we were being picked up for an excursion through Palatino Hill, Foro Romano and the Colosseo. We started in Palatino Hill (the first Roman hill) where we were shown the ruins of powerful structures of the imperial palaces. We continued past Stadio Palatino, the emperor's private stadium; and down into the Foro Romano. There we saw Foro Traiano, the last forum built and the biggest; Tempio di Antonino e Faustina, Tempio di Saturno, Tempio di Vesta as well as Julius Cesar's tomb.
After that it was into the Colosseum. This was incredible. To think that it was built in just eight years is amazing. We wonder how many people worked on it and how many people died during the construction to get it built in such a short time. It was also sad to see little of it still remains. A lot of the marble and stones were pilfered and used on other structures around Rome after the Colosseum was no longer used. It was originally known as Flavian Amphitheatre. The word colosseum derived from the colossal statue of Nero (The Colossus) that stood nearby originally.
In it's day it had 80 arched entrances allowing easy access to 55,000 spectators, who were seated according to rank. It is a huge ellipse 188 metres long and 156 metres wide. Originally 240 masts were attached to stone corbels on the fourth level to allow a sail known as a velarium to be pulled across it to offer shade during summer.
The floor of the colosseum was wood with sand thrown over it to absorb the blood of the wounded and dead. Underneath the floor were passages, cages and rooms where the gladiators, animals and other things were kept. We even learnt that occasionally they would flood the colosseum and have water battles. The colosseum remained in service for 450 years. We couldn't begin to imagine how many gladiators, animals and Christians lost their lives during this time.
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