"Veni, vidi, vici"

Partial view of the Colosseum
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“This is the Appian Way. The most famous road that leads to Rome, as all roads lead to Rome.” - quote from the movie Quo Vadis

Rome is so full of history  it really is ridiculous.  Buildings and places that in any other city would be a major attraction don't even warrant mention.  A building that is 500 years old is new in relative terms.  We stood on a lookout on the roof of a castle by the Vatican and as we looked out over the city there were maybe 30 classic domes sticking up all over the place.  Each one looks fascinating!  Our guide book tells us that if you decided to visit all the churches in Rome and saw one a day it would take 900 days to see them all.  Ouch...

“This is the Appian Way. The most famous road that leads to Rome, as all roads lead to Rome.” - quote from the movie Quo Vadis"

Korak infront of the Colosseum
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The city itself is pretty easy to get around in.  The subway is limited but the 2 lines that exist seem to run pretty close to most of the good stuff so as a tourist I don't feel the small reach of the system.  The people here are friendly despite all the tourists who even make me grind my teeth sometimes and I'm one of them.  Statistically 12% of Italy's economy is tourism so I guess they have it pretty well sorted out.

An interesting note...  we were here during the presidential elections and I couldn't even tell.  (Well, except the FOX television network had a few campaign posters up encouraging the masses to vote for Homer Simpson.)  No protests, no groups of people waving signs on bridges, nothing!  If it wasn't for seeing the news we wouldn't have been able to tell.

Inside the Colosseum. The arena was originally covered in wooden floor. The area below was used to house animals and storage.
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We literally stumbled upon a cat sanctuary that is based on well you guessed... Roman ruins (apparently it was accidentaly discovered when planning for an apt. complex, needless to say THAT project was abondoned). Anyway the sanctuary is not literally on the grounds but the cats sure are. They are taking care of over 250 cats and are always looking for volunteers. So if any of you feline lovers happen to be in Rome check them out!!!

Did I mention that getting around Rome is a bit of a pain but can you blame the guys....everytime they start to dig they stumble upon another piece of history that is close to 2000 years old!!!