It’s funny, isn’t it? If you were at home, the idea of walking around a city in the rain would put you off. Perhaps you would decide that you would stay at home. If you are in a city like Rome, the idea of a “wasted day” would be outrageous. You should be exploring instead.

Following the tracks of many tourists before us (including ourselves) this morning we head to the Colosseum. We have pre-purchased tickets. This is a must. It means we can race past the crowds as they stand in the rain for our guided tour of this majestic place.

Our tour guide is a beautiful young Italian woman. She provides heaps of information about this more than 1,900 years old place. Incidentally and not unsurprisingly it is one of the new seven wonders of the world. Construction began way back in about 72 AD and finished 80 AD. How can it be that this almost 2,000 years ago construction can only take 8 years? The key performance indicators for major city constructions were certainly different in the olden days… perhaps we need to bring back the project management skills of years gone by.

The most surprising bit of information was letting us in on the secret about a Hollywood myth about gladiators. Yes, gladiators fought at the Colosseum and many were slaves. But it has been confirmed, and I verified on the internet so it must be true. That the fights stopped when a gladiator was too injured to go on. Gladiators were well trained and so their employers were loath to lose them in fights – because they were expensive. Why doesn’t that surprise me.

Back to the Colosseum it is a really grand 50,000 seat amphitheater. I would have been keen to see a concert there, Taylor, Robbie or Queen maybe. This seating number was before the 1349 earthquake that split the facade in half. The scale of the place is what takes you by surprise as well the complexity of the engineering. Ingenious things included a hypogeum that flooded to recreate naval battles. There were also tunnels used by gladiators and animals to suddenly in front of crowds. Amazing..

Lunch at a lovely hole in the wall place called Fuorinorma. It is just down the street from the Colosseum and kind of on the way to the Forum. Another great place to eat. There is no coffee though if you are looking for a hit. Ah yes, I was. But the Limonata did the trick.

As the rain eased we arrived at the Forum. It was the centre of the political, religious and economic life of the city. It was built in the first century AD:

• is paved and rectangular in shape and housed spaces devoted to trade shops (ah yes worlds oldest mall),
• basilicas and sacred vestiges (something new I learned this trip this is where the vestal virgins lived)
• a place for politics and justice (yup worlds first electoral offices)

The forum is so great to walk around. There is so much to take in. Even with tricky weather, it was a real highlight. You should definitely make it part of any itinerary to Rome. This is especially true when your Colosseum ticket includes a visit to the Forum.

Tonight we are having dinner at Cimarra 4. We are going for pizza and pasta. Hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Tonight along with Aperol Spritz we sampled a fine Raspberry Limoncello Spritz – yummy yummy. And the boys couldn’t go past the ale named Isaac.