Colosseum Guts

Ready for some Colosseum ACTION?
See the first posts here: 1, 2, 3, 4

Since our walking tour did not involve going inside the Colosseum, we went back early the next morning to try to get in line early enough to get in and get out before our (rescheduled) Vatican City tour. We got in quicker then we expected and walked around and explored for awhile.


It is technically ruins, so it was a little hard to imagine it how it was in it's glory days, but it was still so impressive.


These are the "dungeons" where the animals were kept for the gladiator fights. When the Colosseum was first built, these dungeons did not exist and below the stage it was empty and they would fill it with water and actually have battleship fights. Can you IMAGINE?


This shows how the Colosseum was plundered for its materials. A large section of the outer wall is missing when the materials were needed to build other buildings and churches.


This was a view of the Emperors box from across the stage. A couple hundred years ago, the Catholic Church wanted to preserve the Colosseum as a monument to all the Christian martyrs, so they put a large cross up in it, which you can also see front and center.


I don't know who these guys are. Some nerds taking their own picture.


They have tried to reproduce what the main stage looked like. You can also see better how almost half the wall is missing on part of the Colosseum.


This is the view from the Colosseum towards the Roman Forum. Some artist (I forget his name, but the tour guide told us) put up those big white plastic columns for some reason...I forget that little fact too.

Tomorrow, I'll post some pictures of the Vatican. We weren't allowed to take many pictures, but I'll show you what I've got.