We woke up and had brekky at the hostel.
It was okay but nothing grand.

Armed with our map Brett and Karen and I headed for the Coliseum.

We saw a little piazza that housed the St Maria Maggiore church.
We didn’t go in but took a couple of shots and kept going.

(two photos)----------(two photos)

Tanya and Brett--------- Brett

Brett spotted the Coliseum first through the trees.
It was really big and quite amazing to be standing in front of!

--------- (two photos)

There was heaps and heaps of people there and the line was really long.
We were asked if we wanted to do a tour which means that you skip the line.
We asked how much and it was about €18.
It did also include an afternoon tour of Palatine Hill.
This is just ruins and if we didn’t have a tour we probably wouldn’t really know what we were looking at so we jointed the tour.

(two photos)------ (two photos)

Brett inside (two photos)--- ......and taking photos

The lady was a bit hard to understand but she knew a lot of stuff.
She told us how the Coliseum was used and how it worked with the tunnels and ramps etc underground.
It was amazing the type of gory stuff that used to go on there with crowds screaming and chanting for more.

---------- (two photos)

(two photos) -----Brett and Tanya inside-----

It was really hot that day and poor Brett was feeling it.
I can’t imagine how hot and smelly it would have been with so many people packed in sitting side by side.
The tour guide said that workers would stand at the top of the Coliseum and empty baskets of rose petals and gardenias down over the crowds to “freshen them up”.
I thought that was just amazing.

We wandered around for a while and brought a few postcards and that sort of thing.

------ (two photos)--------- "where we had lunch"

We then went and found a nice shady spot for some lunch.
We got pizza things (that weren’t great but filled me up) and sat down and rested and watched the tourists while we waited for the next tour to start.
It was very cool to sit in the shadows of that amazing building.

--------- Looking from the Coliseum (two photos)

Brett and the Arch------------- A Bride and Groom

I found it quite strange the number of weddings that were on that day.
A lot of them had pics taken at the Coliseum and Constantine Arch.
I would be annoyed about the amount of tourists in my wedding pics but they didn’t seem too bothered.

The ruins (two photos)- (two photos)- (three photos)

Looking from the Forum up to Palatine Hill

We joined the Palatine Hill tour.
We had a different tour guide…much cuter (obviously a bloke!!) and much easier to understand.
He took us to Palatine Hill which was build by Domitian.
It was a six acre house/palace.
Unbelievable.
Having someone describe to you how something would have looked was great.
He would say - now imagine these columns going all the way up three stories, then all the way around the outside and then imagine them covered in marble.
It was totally mind boggling, from the private gardens, to the three acre bedroom to the dinning room to the entry hall.
It would have been amazing.

Part of a yellow marble column--------- Brett at the ruins

I saw some lovely yellow marble from Tuscany that made the columns.
It was beautiful.

Pond and waterfall

Looking at the Forum from the Coliseum and from Palatine Hill

Looking towards the Coliseum - "......but it looked tiny" (two photos)

Tanya and Brett with the Coliseum in the background

The tour finished up overlooking the Roman Forum which was very cool too.
To the right was the Coliseum.
I never imagined that thing could look small but it looked tiny…the photo with me in looks like I cut out a pic and stuck myself next to it.

"1700 year old doors and purple columns" (two photos)

The guide gave us some information on the Forum and pointed out some doors.
They were green and they were over 1700 years old and they still worked.
On either side of the doors was some gorgeous purple columns.
It turned out that it was purple marble from Egypt and the Romans flogged it all because purple is the colour of royalty.

(two photos)

After the tour finished we went for a walk back across Palatine Hill to see Circus Maximus.
Ben Hur was actually filmed there.
It isn’t much now…just a long oval shaped field.
Brett’s comment was “You made us walk all the way back across this hill to look at grass?”.
Yes I did…I wanted to see it!

An old building (three photos)--- An arch (two photos) - "and Mum?"

We walked back across the top of the hill to where the tour finished and then went down into the Roman Forum.
It was lots of old ruins but the purple marble up close was lovely.

We went by the Senate Building which was where Shakespeare set the murder of Julius Caesar but that couldn’t actually have happened.
He was actually killed a Piazza Navona (we didn’t go there).

"The Typewriter"

Tanya and Brett in front of the building

We walked to the Vittoriale Building.
It was a monument with no real point to it.
Apparently the residents of Rome hate it and it has lots of nicknames…'The Typewriter' being one of them.
It was huge though.

We went and got gelati and sat on the grass in front of the building for a while then we walked back to the hostel.

We had met a nice girl from Kentucky (she was a Sunday School Teacher, Mum) at the hostel who was travelling on her own so we invited her to dinner with us.
She had been before to a particular restaurant so we planned to go there with her.

Before that Brett had an idea to go and see the Coliseum at night.
We walked down there through a park (a bit dark) and past a soccer field where there was a big street party going on.
It looked fairly impromptu with people just sitting in their cars and urinating in public (what is the go with that in Europe - they think the world is a toilet).
When we walked down the steps there was a guy selling handbags.
I am not entirely sure what happened but apparently some guy went down the stairs and kind of hid around the corner…he didn’t do anything but Brett and another guy pointed it out to each other to be on the lookout to save the girls!
We didn’t have to worry but it was a bit weird.

The Arch of Constantine (two photos)

The Coliseum (two photos) (two photos)

Tanya and Brett and Brett at the Coliseum

There were quite a few people down at the Coliseum taking photos.
We got some nice ones and then went to meet Kristina at the restaurant.

We went back up the same way and didn’t see anyone else hiding in the bushes…we did see lots more people peeing against fences though!

Karen, Tanya, Kristina and Brett

We had a nice dinner and had some nice wine with it.
Bruschetta and pasta and gelati etc.

We had had a few drinks and were ready to kick on so the four of us headed back to the Piazza we went to first in the morning as there were a few bars around there.

I heard Kristina start to laugh and turned around to see what it was and copped an eyeful of a lady’s boobs.
She was leaning against a rubbish bin (nice) and when Brett walked past (never mind that he was with three girls) she just pulled down her boob tube.
I don’t think she said anything but I think that she may have been a working girl.

Anyway we found a pub and a nice spot to sit outside and had more wine.
The pub closed and we moved on to another one but that closed quickly too so we just went home.
We walked back the same way.
Brett’s new girlfriend wasn’t at the garbage bin anymore but her handbag still was - we only assume she had found a customer!

Thursday 30th June 2005
Email from - Kristina Spayd (kristinamspayd@yahoo.com)

Subject - Hello there!

Hello Tanya!
It has been such a long time since we've caught up
I hope you're doing great and enjoying life in London - are you still there?
I am back in Kentucky starting Graduate School next week for my Education Degree
I taught in South Korea at a university over the winter and it was a blast!
One of my students is even coming to see me in August for a few days!
After my one year in Graduate School, I am planning a trip to South America then probably going back to South Korea - they pay teachers the best!
I have caught a travel bug and can't wait to see the entire world!
I'm living in my own great little apartment and am loving it
Single again!
Had that great boyfriend for a while and during my trip to South Korea, he proved to be "not so great"
So, single again and have decided that I'm not exactly looking since I have school and travel as my focus now!
I "googled searched" Brett and saw that he had been injured
How is his recovery going?
Is he back in Australia?
I saw the on-line photo album and was so excited to see the pictures from Rome and the story about me - that was so sweet!
I wanna hear all about you and what's been going on in your life!
It is so hard to keep in constant contact, I know, but I haven't forgotten about you!
Talk to you soon! Take care!
Kristina from Kentucky