Rome: Day Two

Today we walked all around the most ancient parts of Rome, including the Forum and the Colosseum. Erika was a WONDERFUL tour guide, telling me all about Roman history as we walked about. For instance, when Spartans got married, the woman had to shave her head and dress as a man to sneak into the men's dormatories, because all marriages were supposed to be a secret. It was not until a man turned thirty five and retired from battle that he was allowed to go live with his wife. However, to retire was seen as shameful. The only virtuous death for a man was in battle, as the only virtuous death for a woman was in childbirth.

We walked through the Colosseum first. It's really interesting to see how the building has changed in compisition and use over time. For quite a while, it was used as a church, and hosted Passion Plays. Until quite recently, the floor was also intact. They have pictures of Victorians picnicing in the center of the stage. Now this area has all been excavated to show the underground tunnels.

From there, we had lunch, then toured the Forum. It's really hard to imagine that, at one time in history, all the structures we saw were newly built, and spread all over Europe. I mean, there's a Roman thatre right in the center of Màlaga, and that's a relatively close Roman outpost. It was just amazing.

In all, we spent most of the day just walking around, checking out the sights and talking about history. Tomorrow: Catecombs and Pantheon!