Colosus

2 mellenium of history can be a little bit over whelming and messes with my head as i try to comprehend the age of monuments and buildings with names such as "Arch of Septinius", "temple of Saturn", "Basilica Julia" and one of special interest "House of the Vestal Virgin". The whole of Roma is one big ruin with some areas looking like a scene from a Gladiator movie.

New years eve was spent wondering down past the Victor Emmanuel Monument (I thought Paris monuments were on steroids but this was huge) and on to the daddy of them all the 2000yr old Collosseum. A stagering site even if the gladiators were now fleesing tourists rather than slaying lions. New years erupted with the booming sound of fireworks across the city - they are legal here and it seemed every street corner was ablaze with sparks and the odd fire out of control.

New Years day was a quiet affair with most things closed so we spent it wandering through the city, past the "piazza di spagna" only to find the millions of people that had no where else to go apart from the Spanish Steps. Someone did tell me that they were there somewhere under the swarm of bodies. Escaping this we had to stop in at the Travi fountain where the kids threw a coin in making a wish for the latest Nintendo DS that Santa DID NOT get them.

Every place we have visited is unique and we have new suprises every day. Tomorrow we are going to have a chat with the Pope. till next time