Day 9 Rome

Today we woke up and had a decision to make. The Airbnb we had booked was not up to standard. The smell coming from one of the toilets had infiltrated the living room and our bedroom. Upon further investigation, it seems the sewerage was directly connected to the drain in the shower, thus resulting in funky smells comming up through the shower drain. We quickly came fo the realisation that we hd to relocate to a hotel and try and get a refund for the next three nights. Larry shot off an email to the hostess and Airbnb, however the subject of the refund is still pending.

We then decided to head to the Pantheon while we waited for a response. This impresive structure was built nearly 2000 yers ago and still has the largest unfrabricated stone dome in the world. It's size has to be seen to be believed. We spent some time in here taking photos and looking at the different tombs and alters around the perimiter.

We then went to get some breakfast (it was still only 9:30), and got about searching for another hotel. We found one reasonably priced, booked it, and headed back to the Airbnb to pack our stuff. Jason and Elaine had a tour booked at 11:15 so they took off to that while Donna, Larry, Amanda and myself relocated the bags.

We then met back up with J&E at the Colosseum for our tour. The tour took us through the Roman Forum which was the ancient centre of Rome. We had an extensive tour of the ruins and were lead back to the Colosseum. Here we enjoyed a tour that took us into some of the restricted areas of the massive structure.

We first went out onto the reconstructed floor, which gave us some idea of what it would hve ben like to be a gladiator with the 50m high stadium walls around us. We then went to the underground part of the Colosseum where the gladiators and beasts were kept before battle. Finally we were allowed to climb the many stairs to the top of the stadium, which gave us magnificent view.

Feeling very tired we trudged back to our new accomodation to check in and have a much needed shower. We went to a local restaurant for dinner before mking it an early night and being in bed by 9pm.