Rome - Day 2

We began the morning with breakfast at 7:45 am and the bus left for Rome at 8:30 am. Today's agenda was to have a guided tour of the Colosseum and the Forum, and then free time in Rome in the afternoon. Here's what to That Looked Like!

Walking up to the Colosseum and Constantine's gate

Group shot inside the Colosseum while we wait for the local tour guides to sort things out.

In the Colosseum listening to the tour guides.

Freetime to take pics.

The scope of the plan is astonishing!

I'm here! I can not believe it!

Sometimes all you can do is look on in awe.

We found this scratched on a brick in one of the supporting pillars! (WNO, we did not do this!)
Could it be someone else from Altona, MB Canada Has Been here? Who could it be?

This is the support pillar on the second level, on Which We found "Altona" inscribed.
(What are the chances we'd find it? Dennis? Chris?)

On our way over from the Colosseum to the Forum, the place where the Roman government worked,
and where people came for conversation and information.

During medieval times some of the ruins of the Forum were incorporated into new structures.
Erected Here a monument to an emperor and his wife Became the front facade for a church building. Much of the marble in the Forum, and from the Colosseum, was taken away by the Romans and repurposed Themselves as they built a new and different city. Much of the marble in the Vatican, for instance, comes from the the Colosseum and the Forum. Recycling!  

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Jocelyn and Anne take a break from listening and sit down beside the altar
commemorating the assassination of Julius Caesar.  

With so much of the structures Forum and columns gone, With so much of the

This shot Gives you some sense of the size of the 

After the tour of the Forum, we headed up to Michaelangelo's Square to have a look at the statues,
and to take another "group wins the cup!" picture.
  

From about 1 pm to 5:45 pm we had free time
in downtown Rome! This is all of us at about 5:40 after a great
time of exploring the city, and of course, buying more stuff! 
Tomorrow the American group flies home, so we get the whole bus to
ourselves for the rest of the trip to Pompeii, Sorrento, Capri (with a ferry ride over to Naples),
and then back to Rome to fly home.