This morning, we woke up at 8:30am planning on having breakfast and heading into town around 11.  We ended up taking a cab into Rome and arriving at the coliseum  around 12.  The three ancient tourist attractions (Coliseum, Palatino, and Forum) are conveniently located adjacent to one another.  For 12 euros, one can buy a ticket that provides admission into all three.

We started at the Palatino because the ticket line was shortest, and then continued to the Coliseum, followed by the Forum.  All three are ruins of ancient, approximately 2,000 year old buildings which display some of the greatest architectural and engineering achievements at the time (and maybe even today).  Standing at the buildings (especially the coliseum), it was interesting to imagine how the experience must have been to be inside the building 2,000 years ago.  Apparently, the capacity of the coliseum was estimated at up to 85,000, dwarfing the 20,000 capacity of the staples center. People used to gather to watch public executions (via wild animals), duels, and entertainment/shows.

During the few hours at these 3 sites, the weather was over 90 degrees and felt much hotter than that due to the humidity.  It was about 6pm, and after Mike and I had some pizza Mike headed back to the hotel to take it easy for the rest of the day.

From the coliseum, I continued walking north toward Pantheon. On the way, I passed by a beautiful monument/fountain/memorial.  The security guard at the entrance explained that this was a memorial for fallen Italian soldiers, and that visitors should act respectfully.  The memorial included two soldiers standing at the center of the memorial, and also a constantly lit torch.

After, I continued along go Pantheon, a beautiful circular-dome cathedral with a surprisingly-small seating area.  Most of the space inside the cathedral is wide-open, empty space which may have been emptied to increase occupancy for more tourists.  Outside the pantheon, there was a upbeat Palestinian demonstration spreading propaganda about Israeli human rights violations and unfair Israeli control of the Temple Mount.  This made me angry, because just a couple days ago a Jewish family (including children) were stabbed to death by a Palestinian.  Also, three Israeli police officers were shot by Israeli Arabs in the old city.  Both of these acts were praised by Palestinian authorities, who continue to play the victim and take advantage of the uninformed, politically-correct media and citizens of western countries.  Outside the Pantheon (and adjacent to the Palestinian demonstration), a street performer was playing Bob Dylan’s “blowing in the wind,” an appropriate song to be played near the demonstration.

Next, I was walking toward Fontana Di Trevi and walked past a crowded crepe/gelato shop.  The shop had a long line and the environment looked great (chocolate fountain along the back wall), so I thought it would be a nice place to stop by for a snack.  I ordered a hazelnut/chocolate crepe with hazelnut/chocolate ice cream and whipped cream.  It was a tasty (and heavy) snack.

A few minutes later I arrived at Fontana Di Trevi, a beautiful fountain and gathering area.  The monument/fountain wasn’t anything out-of-this-world but like many places in Europe, the environment and people in these public gathering spaces adds so much to the environment and experience.

Next, I continued north to Piazza Di Spigna, a multi-leveled, crowded square providing beautiful views especially around sunset.  I walked up the beautiful wide stairs and noticed a street performer sitting on the stairs surrounded by many dozens of people sitting on the stairs. The street performer was incredibly talented, playing songs such as I’m yours, “We don’t need your money, money, money song,” and more.  The crowd got pretty involved, singing and clapping along to the music.  It was a special atmosphere.

From there, I continued north to Piazza Del Pipolo, a large square gathering area and then I walked across a bridge across the river toward Piazza Cavour, which seemed to be some type of extravagantly designed government building.

From Piazza Cavour, I crossed the river again toward Piazza Navona, a large, well-lit square, lined by restaurants with outdoor seating, and enlivened by street performers.  One of these street performers was an extremely talented piano player and singer, who played a few Coldplay songs (including yellow), giving the songs his all and singing at the top of his lungs.

Around this time, I got a little lost (thanks to apple maps), but ended up walking into a beautiful Jason Mraz-like performance from a street performer.  The street performer was playing facing a wide stair area, which hundreds of people were sitting on.  A group of drunk guys on a bachelor party approached him and interrupted his performance, and he was really cool about it.  He played “thinking out loud” and gave him two pieces of advice for his marriage: don’t go to bed angry; and only one partner should be angry at a time.

At this point, I was running short on time and had to rush back to to coliseum to catch the 11pm shuttle to the hotel.  The shuttle was a no-show so I took a few buses/trains and was able to get back to the hotel in a hour-and-a-half (including 40 minutes of walking).  It was a great day, and now I’m excited for Croatia.