Yesterday's tourist stuff:

Yesterday was a relatively short trip. We hopped on the Metro at the Barberini station right around the corner from our hotel and after one confusing transfer, we got off at the stop for the Colosseum. Walking out of the Metro, you're right across the street from this massive structure, it's almost so big that you can't immediately comprehend it.

This thing is huge, and huge doesn't even begin to describe it. It's not "tall" - it's only about 10-15 traditional stories high. It's more the scope of the whole building. Once you approach the base of the building to get out of the scorching heat, you can't see the top of the building, and as you look to each side, the building curves away from your sight, so you don't see any corners. With a square building, you can look down one of the sides and see an end to the building. With the Colosseum, it probably appears more massive than it really is, since you can't get any perspective from any corners. We'd have to talk to an expert in architecture from 2000 years ago, since construction on this monster was started around 75 AD.

For me (at least), the scale and history of the building hit me with a guttural reaction that took my breath away for a moment. I know that the kids didn't have that reaction, and I think Becca appreciated different parts of it, but I haven't had that reaction to anything else I've seen while here. Quite sobering.

We've found that if Cori is the one responsible for taking pictures, she's more into doing the touristy stuff. She took most of the pictures from around the Colosseum... she's gotten much better at framing the subject, and she's working on teaching herself more about composition as well. You can see for yourself by clicking on the picture link from the last post. I'll figure out how to make that link static, and leave it on the right side of the blog.

We wandered a bit, then stopped in a cafe and had lunch... lasagna for me, a salad for Bec, and grilled chicken with french fries for the kids. The chicken wasn't trimmed before grilling, and the kids didn't eat much of it. We took the Metro back, and spent most of the rest of the day hanging around the hotel.

That's all for now, I'll post more pics shortly. Check the same link from last post.