Ancient Rome

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Geo: 41.9, 12.4833

Our first full day in Rome, and we planned more than we could actually do. Of course. Since we got a late start, breakfast was the bread and cheese leftovers from the night before--still very yummy.

We took the Metro for the first time out to the Colosseum, first, and then to Palatine Hill and the
Roman Forum. We also made it to San Pietro in Vincoli, since it is just a few blocks north of the Colosseum. We bought the weekly Metro pass so we will not have to buy tickets for it again.

After reading about how long the lines are to purchase tickets for many of the venues, I had ordered electronic tickets to several sites in advance. We did walk right up and go in the Colosseum using the printout for the electronic tickets. There was a barcode printed on it that the ticket taker scanned. Phil had downloaded the free audio guides from Rick Steves for the Colosseum and other sites, so we skipped the line to rent audio guides, too. We both like Rick Steves' style and the ones we used today worked well for us. There were lots of human guides offering their services outside the gates, but we could skip them, too.

We walked a lot in this ancient area of Rome and took many, many steps up and down while seeing the ancient architecture. As soon as you go up to the top of one hill, you can see down to the next level and up to the next hill. The meaning of the Seven Hills of Rome is now very clear.

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