Rome was only an hour and a half away from Florence by train. Joe departed around 6:30 in the morning for the airport. Kev and I slept in until about 8 and had turned our key back to Mama Lucia by 9:30 and headed to the train station.
Being the last stop on our trip, we were the least prepared for Rome. Kevin had done a little bit of reading from the guide book to know which sights to hit up, but I had only quickly browsed it and gotten a faint idea of the area I wanted to stay in. We sat in the train station and debated whether to stay near the station or near the sites and finally chose closer to the sites so we could get a better flavor for the city. After a few phone calls, we found one of the places from the guidebook with a vacancy for $115 a night, less than what the book claimed due to a last minute discount! See! Sometimes it pays not to plan...haha. The hotel wasn't extremely far away from the station, so we decided to walk there rather than figure out the metro. We picked up Roma Cards at the nearest Tabbaconist (cigarette & misc shop). These cards get you into 2 major sites without paying or waiting in line and you also get 3 days of unlimited metro/bus access. All for $23euro each. Not a bad deal, especially if you were going to be there for three days in the middle of the summer.
We pretty much walked straight to our hotel without getting lost. Rome, to me, felt similar to DC - everywhere you turn theres a statue or monument of something or other, there are tourists everywhere, and theres a good bit of traffic. Kind of a good last stop due to the slight familiarity. Our hotel turned out to be a really nice place; the room was probably one of the nicer ones we've had during the trip, the staff was very nice and extremely helpful, and we even got welcome drinks for free! Not bad! Its called Hotel Giardino if anyones interested in going to Rome. 
After getting situated, we headed for the Colosseum, 7 or 8 blocks away. The Colosseum was completed in 80AD. Quite an impressive sight from the second we turned the corner and first saw it in the distance. We used our Roma Cards and bypassed the line. Your first view of the interior is the central arena just ahead of you. The actual floor was made of wood and covered with sand and no longer exists. An example of what the floor would have looked like was set-up to the left. What you see in the center is the multiple levels underneath the floor called the hypogeum that held the animal and gladiator cages. 
A complicated elevator system was used to raise the animal,gladiator or scenery to the arena floor level. It took as many as 200 people to operate some of the lifts. Crazy. In the arena, animials fought animals (for example beers, lions, cougars, rhinos), gladiators fought animals, and gladiators fought gladiators. Oftentimes the gladiator didn't even know what he was going to fight -- and then a bear or other animal would pop up behind him on one of the lifts and he had no choice but to fight it, or die trying. During the Colosseum's grand opening, it is said that over 2000 humans were killed and over 5000 animals. Perfume was used to mask the stench of blood and decay. The Colosseum could hold as many as 50,000 people. Can you imagine all those people cheering on such fights?! It must have been spectacular. Maybe that is what Michael Vick was going for in his house. As you probably already know, the crowd was often given the power to decide whether a gladiator should live or die when his opponent had injured him severely enough to put him in a compromised position. If the downed gladiator had fought bravely, the crowd may give him a thumbs up, allowing him to live to see another day.
Seating was segregated by class. The emperor and his entourage front and center on the lower level as well as the Vestal Virgins--more on that later. The next level was for the Senate, the next the noblemen/knights, the next ordinary citizens, and finally the nose bleeds were for the poor and slaves. Admission was free, but they actually claimed there was a ticket system with assigned seating! Can you believe that!
Not much has changed, except the free part of course. Guess they made their money on concessions. Ha. During archeological digs, they found tons of chicken and pig bones and other objects indicating what the people ate during the games. People also gambled in the stands, as evidenced by the finding of shells and dice. Much like today, some forms of gambling were illegal back then, so it had to be done discreetly. There was also graffiti -- people would carve outlines of their favorite gladiators in the steps of the bleachers. It is said that one of the crowd favorites defeated a bear, a lion and a rhino back to back. Not bad. I didn't even realize that these things were real, but gryphons would perch on top of the Colosseum, waiting to fly down and get a free meal. They found bones of many different animals during the digs. Not a big surprise there.
Okay, back to the construction. Several of the stand sections are gone, as well as most of the steps leading to the top. You can still see where they were though. Earthquakes did most of the damage. Statues used to line the top of the stadium, long since gone. I told Kevin that Dan Snyder should build the next Redsksins Stadium to look like the Colosseum...what better place than DC?? It would be incredible for someone to recreate it in all its slendor. Maybe add a few more seats though. And some parking. And then on the way to the forum....
Ha, next stop was the Roman forum... the religious, commercial and political center of the city. Once the center of the civilized world, now its a tangle of dilapidated columns and broken buildings. Back in the day, conquering generals led processions from the arch at one end to the arch at the other, now tourists scatter all over taking pictures of the evidence left behind. I don't know how they can tell what the buildings used to look like. I guess from paintings. I sure couldn't tell. Our guide book explained the good guts of it -- which I'll have to refresh on because I wandered off without it and just took it all in. I remember one of the buildings was where the Vestal Virgins lived. The Vestal Virgins - 8 to 10 yr old girls from noble families could choose to be Vestal Virgins. They had to promise to remain chaste for 30 years, at which time they would acquire a substantial dowry and be allowed to marry. Meanwhile they were revered and allowed to sit opposite the emperor at the Colosseum!
Beyond the forum was Palatine hill, one of the oldest regions in Rome and where several emperors lived as well as some rich Romans. Amidst the debris we found the throne room where a slab of marble still marked the location of the throne, as well as a large stadium area that was once lined with statues & columns. By the time we finished walking through this area, it was nearly 7 and closing time. 
We headed back toward the hotel, stopping along the way to snap a pic of the gigantic Vittoriano building -- a monument to Italy's first king. We took the recommendation of the hotel clerk for dinner, and headed to his 2nd favorite pizzeria. (The first was too far away). Probably the best pizza we've had in Italy -- Kev had some form of supreme, I had devil (spicy salami that wasn't that spicy). Afterwards we wandered up to an Irish-American bar, had a Guinness (what?!?), watched some soccer news, and then called it a night.
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