Why Do All Good Things Come to an End?

Good question, Nelly Furtado. Today unfortunately marked the end of 1) my time in Rome and 2) the beautiful weather we've been having all week. Thankfully the rain held off just long enough for us to make our final stop in the Eternal City: the Colosseum.

Whoa.

Holy cow. This might just be the coolest darn thing I have ever seen. The Romans were extremely advanced for their time, building this enormous arena over 2000 years ago. Funny enough, despite how ancient it is, it doesn't look much different from modern day stadiums like Soldier Field. The whole thing used to be covered in marble too. Fancy.

A primeval Rose Bowl. 

Apparently it had nearly 80 entrances, so after the matches they could have everyone cleared out in about 15 minutes. Certainly not the case anymore. Though I don't think they had to deal with as much parking lot traffic. Inside the stadium man would fight man, man would fight animal, or animal would fight animal. Animal fights were to the death, and they fought so often that species almost became extinct. Guess PETA didn't exist back then. Michael Vick would have fit right in. 

Next door to Il Colosseo is the Roman Forum, a plaza filled with ruins from ancient Rome. Now about two years ago, I visited the historical site of Jamestown in Virginia only to find, much to my disappointment, that all that was left was a few one-brick high foundations. At the Forum, there were giant arches, halves of temples, and other well-intact government buildings of downtown ancient Rome. These guys were amazing. 

McDonald's can't compete with those arches.

Or these.

I'm just a bill yes I'm only a bill, and I'm sitting here on Capitoline Hill.

They must've used rubber cement instead of Elmer's on this side of  Julius Caesar's Temple.

Imperial Rome was not a bad way to end my trip here. Our tour guide also looked like a cross between Hugh Laurie and Steve McQueen which made for an entertaining time, despite the fact that my walkie talkie thing died halfway through and I had no idea what he was telling us. I can see why the people of Rome were p.o.'ed at Victor Emanuele for knocking some of this down to build a giant white marble monument for himself. The true beauty of Rome is how advanced these people's thinking was at the time and how it shows up in architecture all over the city. No need for skyscrapers here.

My last supper consisted of traditional Italian fare: bruschetta, insalate, fettucine, and pizze. The food here is amazing because it's restaurant fare tastes like a home-cooked meal made with love rather than something heated up from a freezer. I shed a tear as I spooned my last gelato in Rome into my mouth. But least my food baby will last me another 24 hours.

Mama mia!

I'll wrap up Rome tomorrow on my way to France. Buona notte!