Day 12 - Rome Part 3

Day 12: this morning we left the hotel and checked into our final Airbnb that is right by the Pantheon. We grocery shopped for our last two days here. After this we took a taxi over to the Colosseum. Finding a taxi that will fit all 6 of us has proven to be one of our biggest challenges. We then took a long and very hot tour of the Colosseum, Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum (Ancient Rome). Everything was super neat to see, but hard to imagine what it was really like. And even harder to fathom that these ruins date back to the 1st century! I spent most of the tour trying to keep track of my kids because the crowds were insane. And also trying to move Dallin along who always seemed to be at the back of the group. Finally the tour guide let him hold the stick and be the leader, which seemed to really make him excited. He also got to act as the winning gladiator and walk through the triumphal gate! He wanted to know where the losers walk off and I had to explain that if you lost it meant you were dead. 🤣 Palatine Hill is where the Emperor’s house was located and from up there you could see all the ruins of Ancient Rome. We also saw the original Triumpal Arch, from the one in Paris is modeled after. I learned a few things: if a women broke the law of chastity, she was buried alive. 😲 I made sure my girls heard that part! The picture with the green door shows how high the streets were in the 1800s. It shows just how much archeologist have done to excavate the ruins. And the picture with 8 columns is where the phrase “All roads lead to Rome” comes from. This is where they started measuring distance to places. This spot was 0km (miles) and everything would be measured from there. It was another long hot day and the kids are definitely ready to go home. They’ve been such troopers! We had everyone tell their highs/lows for the day and we all mentioned how excited were to find Guardana in the market!!