So Monday morning, we got up at 7am, and headed down to eat breakfast. Sunday morning, the room had been mostly empty and I expected it to be calm at this point, too. Boy, was I wrong. A very large group of Chinese tourists had apparently decided that 7am was the time that they would get together and eat breakfast, so the room was transformed into a very crowded and very noisy breakfast hall.

Once fed, and wisened by Sunday’s experience, we put on sweaters, packed our guide book (and camera, etc.) and started the walk towards the Coliseum. We got there at 8:35 (it opens at 8:30) and while there was a queue, it was short and within a few minutes we were inside. Not knowing exactly where or what to look for, we strolled around in the outer parts of the second floor for awhile, where they have a display of theatrical artefacts, i.e. masks and similar items, from 2000 years ago. The display focuses on how specifically theaters developed from the Greek amphitheatre, to the Romans’ “double” theater (where the seats aren’t just on one side of the side of a hill, but spread all around, like the Coliseum).

Finally, we move out onto one of the sides, on the “second floor” so to speak, and get a full view of the theatre. It’s big. And very impressive.

The floor, or what to call it, where the gladiators actually fought, is not there. Instead, we see the basement below it; a complex labyrinth of hallways and compartments where they used to have also mechanical constructions to be able to raise or lower things onto the theatre from below ground. Much of the Coliseum was severely damaged in an earthquake around the year 300 (I don’t remember the exact year, and I may be off by a century or so - bite me!) and although some of it was restored at the time, the next 1700 years has done a good job of wearing the impressive building down.

The coolest thing I learned about the Coliseum? They were able to cover the whole thing with a canopy, to shield the visitors from the sun’s relentless burn in the summer. Given the size of the building, that’s extremely impressive.

After having moved around and gone “oooh” and “aaahh” for awhile, we walked out and continued with Forum Romanum. We sort of wished we had a tour guide to explain what all the buildings were, but we got some of the job done by checking the book, some of it by eavesdropping on other tour groups that went past us, and some of it by simply speculating. While of general interest, the Forum didn’t really have any one building or item that stuck out, except that - as with the Coliseum - the size of some of the buildings are absolutely awestriking given that my ancestors i Sweden lived in dirt huts at the time.

And that’s been a bit of a recurring thought I’ve had this week: How ridiculously advanced the ancient civilizations were. What happened during the middle ages? Why did all technological advancement suddenly stop? My only hypothesis at this point is that with the fall of the Empires (Greek, Roman, Byzanthine), western countries simply lost their natural trade partners, and were in effect alone to fend for themselves again. With everyone working in paralell to invent the same stuff, advancement moved at a snail’s pace. Of course, the Chinese civilization didn’t suffer from this, and their strides in science during the European dark ages only strengthen my argument.

I wonder if I’m right. Anyone know? Anyway.

Next up: St. Peter’s Basilica, and the Vatican Museums. Also known as “The Day of Endless Lines and Hurting Feet.”