“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.” I had to fight back my urge to jump on a rock and scream out these famous words today in the Forum…

It seems like you can’t round a corner in Rome without running into some ruins, but the Forum and Coliseum simply are the best. As I walked around the Forum I looked down and noticed the grooves that had been worn into the ground by chariot wheels. It is amazing to think I am walking the exact paths that emperors walked… err maybe rode… did emperors walk or ride?

The Coliseum is a hollowed out reminder of Rome’s glorious past, even though it exists as just a fraction of its minor splendor, it is still breathtaking. Over the centuries it was chipped away at to build Rome’s other architectural wonders. The Coliseum escaped total destruction when the Pope declared it a sacred place in honor of the Christians who died there (turns out that modern research shows no Christians were killed there… but who cares about minor details?)

I made an ingenious discovery today. During this entire trip I have been crossing streets to read road signs only to discover that it was not the road I was looking for. Today I finally put two-and-two together and pulled out my binoculars to read the sign before I crossed the street. Why didn’t I think of this before?

I insisted on going to the Bocca Della Verita. I wanted to act out the scene from Roman Holiday, unfortunately I don’t have my own Gregory Peck, but I still got a good picture.

I got a little lost trying to navigate my way back to the Pantheon, but after a couple of buses and a metro ride I finally made my way back. Rome is certainly a challenge, but each day that goes by Rome grows on me a little bit more and more.

You can't tell, but I am standing front of the Arch of Constantine

A set of very very old doors

What does that road sign say?

My "Roman Holiday" moment