This morning we went on a walking tour of the city.We saw the Colosseum and the Roman Forum.They were both really interesting. The Forum was really difficult for me to understand because it is basically all ruin.I found it very hard to imagine what the buildings would have looked like in their prime.I would have really liked to see some digitally remade pictures of what it would have looked like.I think that would have helped me to put all of it into a better perspective.However, the fact that a large majority was not left made me think about the idea of impermanence.One of the most highly developed cities in all of Europe suffered such a tremendous downfall, where does that leave the modern developed societies of today?The ruins helped to put into perspective how beautiful Rome was/is.Even though in place only 2 columns would be left, I could appreciate that at least that small part of beauty and history survived.

After the walking tour we went to get some lunch.I had a wonderful pizza? Tomatoes and mozzarella!It was wonderful, then we had gelato of course.Then we met back up with the group for a museum.We went to the Museum de Capitoline.It was a huge museum, full of all the artifacts and information about ancient Rome.Some of our people flew through the museum in 15 minutes, but you could easily spend days in there.

After the Capitoline, we went to the Colosseum and got a guided tour.It would have been really good, except our guide was extremely difficult to understand.What I could understand of her English, she said a lot of really interesting stuff about how the Colosseum was used and what it used to look like.I really like the Colosseum, but I think they could do a lot to it to make it more tourist friendly and more interesting.They could make it much more interactive.I think I would have learned a lot more if the configuration had been a little different.

On the way back to the hotel, we got dinner at a little restaurant.It was great, again, of course because it is Italy!I feel like the days keep getting longer and longer.Today we were gone from the hotel from 10am until 9pm. The days are so long, but it seems like the weeks are flying past.I can't believe that half of our travel portion is already over and 1/5 of the whole trip is gone.Well.. I'm beat!