Rome wasn't built in a day... nor was it seen in one! This place is expansive and filled with all sorts of historical sights waiting to be explored. Today we dealt with the biggies. We started at Palatine Hill, the home to emperors and their grand palaces for centuries. We both knew the ruins in Rome were famous and were looking forward to seeing them. Neither of us realized, though, how extensive they really are. These things go on for acres with multiple levels and stories of buildings still completely intact. It is fascinating to think about the world and society built around these massive structures in the time Jesus was around.
Next we walked through the Roman Forum. This is where the Roman Empire was really born. Political buildings, temples, even the site of Julius Caesar's cremation are all part of this ancient town square. We were able to really enjoy sitting around on columns from 700 BC and roaming by the spot where Antony may have said those famous words, "Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears!" Wow!
We worked our way over to the Colosseum. This arena is completely mind-blowing. The fact that people were able to dream up a superdome stadium like this is so cool. It was great to jump in and see so much of these ancient sights and understand where we as people came from. The Roman Empire shaped so many things in our society today!
Lastly, the Pantheon called our name. This building is seriously one-of-a-kind. It houses Europe's largest dome and has a huge hole in the center of it: sort of an ancient skylight. So when it rains... yup... water comes right on in. There are even drainage holes in the floor for this specific purpose.
After a full day of ruins, we headed back to our campsite to rest up a bit and took showers to get ready for a nice dinner downtown. We found a cute spot and took our time enjoying eating a traditional Italian meal outside. We even had Italian espresso and tiramisu to finish off the night. (plus some gelato later) Rome can really wear you out! There is so much to see and we are only scraping the surface on our little trip.
Four days until we come home! Can't wait to catch up with everyone!
Love you,
Tripp and Laura
ps- We have both discovered how hard it is to do EVERYTHING with one person for a whole month. I mean- even if you are married you are away from each other during the day some. We never are apart! We have completely run out of conversations to have or stories to tell, SO.... We would love any comments of conversation starters. Stories, questions, charming anecdotes... anything you can give us would be helpful at this point! Seriously we have talked about everything in our lives; to the point that we have actually helped each other plan our funerals! Ha ha! Yes- we can tell we are getting to the end of our trip!
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4 comments:
Oh, you are so going to regret asking people for suggestions!!!
You mean to tell me, tripp, you ran out of stories to tell?! never!! :)
That P.S. is hysterical. I NEVER thought I would hear you two say that. Talk about best and worst baby names. Go through every grade of school you've ever had (teachers, friends, etc.). That's all I've got.
Have you talked about your favorites? Favorite movie, book, color, animal, activity, person, food, flavor of gelato haha, city in europe, song, singer, memory, hymn, verse, flower, tree, car... maybe top 5 books and movies. you probably know all this about each other anyhoo...
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