Rome - Day #2 - The Colosseum, Circus Maximus and the Mouth of Truth

Our 2nd day in Rome, we decided to visit the Colosseum.  I think this is the place we were all the most excited to see.  We decided to walk there, although we were a little confused on the direct route.  We came across the Santa maria Maggiore Basilica.  We didn't really know that much about it, so we took a few pictures, oohed and aahed at the inside and then headed on our way.  Later we found out it is a very prominent basilica in Rome and includes the tombs of several Popes.  It was quite pretty.

 Yeah, Dead Pope...

After that, we got a little lost, but eventually found an unconventional way to the Colosseum.  We came out on top of a hill overlooking the back of the Colosseum. It was a great view.  We made our way down, past all of the vendors to find a very long line to get into the Colosseum.  After an hour of standing in line, we finally made it inside.  And it was amazing.  AMAZING!!!!  We spent a long time walking around and trying to take it all in.  It was so neat just thinking of all the history that has taken place there through history.  And it was especially fun sharing it with the kids.

 Unfortunately, many areas of the Colosseum, the Forum and Palatine Hill were under restoration, so a lot of scaffolding, including the front of the Colosseum. =(  Still awesome though.

 Long Line!

 Words just don't do this place justice.  It was so amazing!

After leaving there, we decided to come back the next day to tour the Forum, so we took a long walk to the Circus Maximus.  This is where they use to have chariot races.  Not much is there now, but they were working on excavating some more of it.  We had a great view of the Palatine Hill and some of the ruins.  The kids just loved the open space to run.

 Part of the Old Wall that circled the entire city.

 Getting ready for a little chariot racing. =)

After spending some time walking through the park, we headed over to the visit the Mouth of Truth.  We had watched Roman Holiday before going to Rome and the kids were very excited to visit this site.  Especially Noah, he talked about it all day.  It is a large face carved out of a rock, they believe it was a manhole cover from the 1st century.  During the middle ages, they started using it as a lie detector.  It was believed that if you put your hand in the mouth and told a lie, it would be bitten off.  Anyway, the line was pretty long to get there, but the kids were so excited.  Well, Lexi went first and then it was Noah's turn.  On his way up there, he was so excited and about a foot away, he wimped out and got scared.  Silly boy.

 After he wimped out, I picked him up and carried him over for a quick photo. Can you see him protecting his hand.  He was so scared. =)

This is supposedly the skull of St. Valentine, yes, the St. Valentine that Valentine's Day is named for.  It was inside the church that the Mouth of Truth is in.

After leaving there, we headed back toward the train station, albeit a long detour.  We passed a bunch of more awesome sites and ended up climbing on top of the Victor Emmanuel memorial.  It was fun to get a night time view of the city.  It was a long, tiring and awesome day!

Temple of Hercules.

 Tiber Island, use to have an ancient Roman Temple on it.

 Victor Emmanuel Monument, many romans really dislike it.  It's very young for Rome, finished in 1925.  But, it was built with much controversy because a large ancient area was destroyed, along with a medieval neighborhood.  It's so large and overbearing, its bright white facade stands out in the more mute tones of Rome.  But, it's a pretty amazing building, so large, with a lot of amazing statues and such.  It was fun to climb to the top and look out over the city.

 Capitoline Museum