Spent most of today at the Roman Forum and Colloseum. We had timed it poorly, the first Sunday of the month is free! There were so many people but it all seemed to work well. The outlook from the Palatine gave a great overview of the Roman ruins, and you could almost imagine daily life in the grandeur of ancient times. We were only imagining how all these beautiful buildings must have looked in their heyday.
It isn't just the Roman Forum and Colloseum, there are many exposed ruins right around the city. They have been excavated and left for viewing. It is amazing reading the history of some of them, many of the ruins have had other buildings built on top of them over the centuries.
We were amazed at the amount of ruins such as slabs of marble and bits of column etc, where people just used them to sit and rest. After exploring the Forum, we took a guided tour of the colloseum. Our guide was very knowledgeable and passionate, and some of what he told us we remembered from the colloseum in Nimes France a few years ago. In Nimes we had read that their colloseum was the best preserved Roman amphitheatre and based on what we had seen agree with that assessment. A quick bite of a late lunch and we took in a few more of the city sights including the what is now the National Museum of Piazza Venezia (formerly Il Vittoranio). This is Col's favourite building - it is a white marble building dedicated to King Victor Emmanuel, the first king of Italy and was completed in 1911.
Found a great little restaurant close to our hotel tonight. Food was beautiful and great value. Witnessed the slicing of the beef for Scott's dish. It was interesting to note how they sliced prosciutto and raw beef for the various dishes. We were shouted limoncello in chilled glasses and finished off with gelatos from what is now our favourite shop.
