We had the best intentions of taking the bus from our apartment but the bus never came so we took a cab instead, which is not really that expensive and the buses are crammed with tourists and pickpockets, so we thought better to give EUROS to the cabbie rather than a scoundrel. The visit was very much worth it. The morning light highlighted the stone work of the arena and the crowds were manageable, which as the day lingers on the masses will arrive. After the visit to the Coliseum, we went from there to the forum, Capitol Hill and Palatine Hill, which were the great gathering places for business and politicians. The scale of the structures is quite impressive as only a few vestiges remain to remind one of the scale of Rome and their innovative building skills, mostly rendered by slave labor from conquered territories.
In the forum were many temples for the various deities worshiped and the home of the Vestal Virgins, who kept the flame alive in the temple. Some of the Vestal Virgins were immortalized in the form of marble statues. Also in the forum is a pit where Julius Caesar’s body was cremated. People still leave coins and flowers in the pit.
The Forum tour pictured here what was the majesty of Rome now a skeleton of itself for tourists to pick through the bones
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