With all roads leading there...

Our apartment... so Italian
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It was inevitable... Rome once more, and this time it would be for three days.

We arrived in Rome late in the evening, night already fallen, no accommodation to be had and a surprising lack of internet facilities in the central train station. While I sat and watched the fashionable Italian crowd bustle about the train station (guarding the baggage) Jordy went off in search of a bed for the night. Two hours later she had reappeared and we were the proud renters of an Italian apartment. And you will never guess where it was...

And so I set off alone, a bottle of water in my pocket and a map of Rome in my hand.

Terme di Caracalla... massive Roman baths
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I have been dreaming of standing beside the Colosseum since I was a freckled five year old reading books on ancient history. My imagination building the magnificent structure up around me as I devoured stories about gladiators and lions, fights to the death and  the notorious whim of the crowd. When I stepped off the subway train and walked out into the Roman night I was quite unprepared for being mere meters from something that I had spent a good deal of my childhood, and an ungodly amount of adulthood as well, dreaming about.

Me at the baths
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Seeing the Colosseum for the first time, the crowd dispersed, the archways lit by flood lights, the passage of time hidden by the night... the feeling was somewhat akin to the first time I saw snow fall (not so very long ago I might add), when your heart seems far too big for your chest and your lungs far too little and you get frustrated with your eyes because you can't take in everything quick enough while wanting to savor every glimpse, every morsel...

I kept my eyes on it as we walked, Jordy leading the way to our new home for the next couple of days. I watched until it fell away behind us, and then occasionally peeking over my shoulder as we trudged onwards. You can imagine my delight when we opened the window of our our second story apartment and there she was, the Colosseum in all her glory. Winking at me from the end of the street...

Circo Massimo (without the chariots)
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The next morning I was on my own. Jordy, being a tour guide, had already tired of Rome and of the various historical wonders one gets to see in such a location. And so I set off alone, a bottle of water in my pocket and a map of Rome in my hand. Walking past the Colosseum I whispered her a promise I would return and I headed out into ancient Rome. The following is my somewhat circuitous route;

The Terme di Caracalla (magnificent Roman baths), Circo Massimo (the field of chariot races), Colle Aventino (a beautiful garden and lookout), Bocco della Verita (the mouth of truth), the Teatro di Marcello (theater),  Altare della Patria (Tomb of the Unknown Soldier), the Foro Romano (Roman Forum, one of Julius Ceaser's haunts back in the day), and the Palatino on my way back to the Colosseum. Yes... all in one day... I know - I'm a tourist god!

Fountain on Colle Aventino
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Now the plan was to tour the Colosseum that evening with Jordy however due to the winter season the opening times of the Colosseum were changed and alas by the time we walked - somewhat foot weary - to the gates, she was closed. So plans change *shrug* and the Colosseum would be there tomorrow. Waiting patiently for me as I had for her this past lifetime.  It was only a matter of time.

*insert night time of sleeping*

Crack of Arse at the Colosseum

I had to keep my promise, so with the dedication of hard-core tourists, Jordy and I woke at the usual holidaying time of 'pre-dawn' and - tickets in hand - wandered down to the Gates of the Colosseum. Being so early... and it being Italy, there was practically no-one around as we took full advantage of the light and of the absence of people and took an ashameably high amount of pictures. And then the Gates opened...

Me at the Theater
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as we had prepurchased our tickets, we bypassed the meager lines and walked straight into the heart the Colosseum. We were there -alone - in one of the most famous historically significant buildings in the world.