First Tour!

Yay! We all made it through one week of school! All my classes are going well, and I really like everything we are learning about. Today we had our first of many tours around Rome.  We visited the Forum, Palatine Hill, and the Colosseum! They were all AMAZING. The walk to get to all three of them was maybe around ten minutes from our hotel.  I honestly can't even begin to explain how crazy it was to be standing where people actually stood thousands of years ago.  So, our first stop, the Forum, was awesome. My art history teacher was our group's guide, and she explained what went on when the Forum was actually in use and what all the buildings (or what was left of them) were used for.  There were so many pieces of stone with engravings on them that were actually from Roman times. It started raining, but we trekked on.  I got some good video of the site, but no one will be able to see any of that until I get home.  We talked about the seven hills that Rome is built on and actually saw three of them today.  We visited Palatine Hill and could see the entire Forum.  

After we finished seeing the Forum, we all went back to the Hotel Tiziano and ate lunch.  We had gnocchi! It was great, just like everything else we get here.  We had a very short break after lunch and then walked to the Colosseum.

The Colosseum, as I think everyone knows, is breathtaking.  We could see it from quite a ways away.  We finally got up to it and went in for our tour.  There was such a long line outside! If you are ever going to see it you better plan in advance and get tickets, or you would probably be waiting a bit.  Our wait was short, and we started our tour talking about the location of the Colosseum since that is apparently pretty important.  We went up to the second level, by elevator (yay!), and had an amazing view of the entire Colosseum.  We walked around almost the entire thing and our guide continued to tell us the history, including several references to Gladiator.  The roof and stage are gone, but everything else was in such good condition considering how old it is.  You can see pictures of it in the same album as above! Check them out! Leave comments, it's nice to hear from everyone!  And to everyone keeping up with my blog, THANKS! I hope it isn't horribly boring. I miss you all!

Ciao. Allie

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