I never could have imagined the feeling I'd get when approaching it though. It gave me goosebumps at first sight. I envisioned first the Romans chiseling the concrete in 80 A.D. and later it holding 50,000 rowdy fans cheering as wild animals popped out from behind blinds, surprising and attacking gladiators, who then fought to their deaths in this 2,000-year-old roaring death chamber.
We tangled with our own swindling, plastic-sword-touting gladiator just outside the Colosseum. When we stopped to take a few photos he approached us, putting his little plastic sword to Kristal's neck and his hat on Jamie's head. We snapped a few pictures and then he demanded five euros. I pulled out some loose change to offer him but he demanded five euros again, showing us the thick wad of cash in his wallet from all his other swindled tourists.
He refused my small change and we walked away with him following us, still demanding money, but finally he gave up and we escaped with some cute photos and a good lesson on avoiding a quick hustle thanks to our modern-day gladiator.
Our tour of ancient Rome didn't stop there. We headed to (possibly) the most important dirt in Western civilization -- the Roman Forum. We oohed and awed over crumbled pieces of columns and walls as we walked around Rome's birthplace and once thriving civic center. Rubble has never been this awesome.
We strolled through more rubble -- the remains of ancient palaces on Palatine Hill (this is where we get the word palace!), before dragging our aching feet to the supermarket to pick up Italian groceries for dinner. We had (you already guessed, right?) pasta and wine, because what else are you supposed to do when in Rome ...
Ha, I guess I should have warned you about the gladiator guys. They do require a fee for you to take their picture. On the plus side, you were smart and didn't ask one of them to take your picture, too, because it apparently costs a lot more to get your camera back from them!
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