By design our plans for Rome started out very busy and then ended at a more relaxed pace. On our first day, we visited the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. Carly had already been to both sites on a previous trip, but even for her the immense scale of the buildings and the thousands of years of history behind them still leave any person feeling my very small and awestruck. The Colosseum was built a few years after Christ and only took something like 14 years to complete. The bloodiest games were held to celebrate its grand opening. Animals were pitted against animals for the opening act. Then animals against slaves for the halftime show. And then gladiator versus gladiator for the main event. One really striking feature were all of the trap doors and elevators that attached to the main floor, where deadly beasts might suddenly appear behind an unsuspecting gladiator much to his chagrin and the audience's entertainment. 

Next, we visited the heart of the ancient Roman world which is the Roman forum. There, huge, mostly-ruined temples, obelisks, and basilicas dot the landscape. A wide enough road for a few lanes of chariots winds its way up Capitoline Hill, where victorious Roman generals would parade with their war booty making sacrifices to the gods along the way. 

That same busy day, we took a stroll to the famous Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps. It was a wonderful way to end a very hot and busy day.

On this trip, some of the best experiences have been the ones we didn't plan. For example, during our time in the Roman Forum, we became aware that Paul and Peter were probably imprisoned in a nondescript building further up Capitoline Hill. So we decided to check it out the next day. It was called the Mamertine Church, and hardly anybody else was there. We had to buy tickets before even knowing for sure whether this was the place we were looking for. Lucky enough for us, it was. After the ticket booth, you turn a corner and descend two levels into a dark and humid hole in the ground. Prisoners were lowered from the ceiling through a hole that couldn't have been more than 2 or 3 feet across. It was probably in these quarters with over a dozen other prisoners condemned to death that these apostles wrote some of the books of the Bible that we attribute to them today. How anybody could thank God in circumstances like that is a testament to the true faith of the apostles which helped the church grow even in the face of terrible persecution.

Other places we enjoyed visiting were the Capitoline Museums, the Victor Emanuel Monument, and the Borghese Gallery. Two of the most amazing structures we visited were the Pantheon and the Vatican. As you travel Europe, you start to get an idea of how one piece of art or building inspired another, and its fun to connect the dots. For example, the dome on Saint Peter's Basilica was inspired by the dome on the church in Florence which was inspired by the dome on the Pantheon in Rome. And we were privileged to see all three. The Pantheon was built by a Roman Emperor named Hadrian to provide a place to worship many of the Roman gods. Later, after the Christian conversion of the Emperor Constantine, its purpose changed as it was made into a church. In the middle of the dome is a round skylight called an oculus which is the room's only source of light. We visited in the middle of the day and were thus able to witness a brilliant almost straight column of light stretching from the ceiling to the ground. 

Finally, the Vatican in general and Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel in particular are amazing sights to behold. The shear opulence of the rooms funded in part by the selling of indulgences makes it easy to understand why many in the church following the lead of Martin Luther called foul. Nevertheless, it's fun to pretend to be Catholic for a day, and so that's just what we did. We spent about half an hour in the Sistine Chapel, looking straight up to the ceiling, and we left with two souvenir stiff necks. We visited the graves of several popes and also took pictures with Michelangelo's Pieta. All this we accomplished in less than four days, meaning we're now off to Athens hoping for a little break.