Now
we're talking. From a building where so many souls were saved
to one where countless more were destroyed. Let's get the important stops
out of the way first, shall we?
Big Dave Fournier had hooked us up with a great
hostel, so lodgings were
not a problem in Rome. We immediately began what was to be 3 or 4 days
of intense walking around. And what better place to start then the Coliseum.
There's
the nearby Arch of Constantine. And the ever-present skeevy Italian guys
in plastic armour hoping to get a few bucks and/or cop a feel off some
unsuspecting
female tourist.
Man,
this place is wrecked!
A shot back out from the second level. That circle
in front of the Arch is one of the
possible sites of the original Colossus from which the Coliseum gets its
name. The
building was ACTUALLY called the Flavian Amphitheater in Roman times,
but was
subsequently reffered to as the Coliseum because of its proximity to the
giant statue.
I'm surprised you didn't know that...
Here
we are. From this vantage you can see where the wooden floor used to be
and how it covered this series of passages below.
Faith
is looking the wrong way and completely misses that ancient wrought-iron
railing.
Down
on the arena floor, Carl's audio guide tells him they used to fill this
place with water for naval battles. He smiles knowingly, as this is probably
a crock.
We
were ready to fight any one of these people to the death, but
Carl had dibs on the old lady in the wheelchair.
A
closerer look at the passage structures.
Carl
tries a Russell Crowe pose, but can't quite pull off the Aussie-Roman
look.
Here's
a great shot by Faith of the passages.
This
looks like Anastasi writing....
Faith
posing in front of a wedding party posing in front of the Arch of Constantine
posing in front of the Colesium.
