Saturday, July 3, 2010

The Palatine and the Colosseum


I would appreciate your prayers. I've had a nasty case of vertigo today (Friday) and was unable to do much of anything.

On Thursday, though, we visited the Palatine, the highest of Rome's seven hills and the site of the very first buildings in Rome. The hill is now the home of the ruins, dating back as far as the 5th Century BC, of the Emperor's castle and the Circus Maximus along with the original site of the Roman Forum.

Adjacent to the Palatine is the Colosseum, built in 70 AD . A beautiful and imposing structure that was once completely covered in marble which was taken from the Colosseum to build St. Peter's Basilica and portions of the Vatican. What's left is still quite beautiful albeit pock-marked with gouges and holes that were used to anchor the marble to the original structure.

Here are some pictures of the area. The first half of the video shows the Palatine and the second half the Colosseum. You can read about their construction and history here and here.

The music is "The Might of Rome" from, of course, "The Gladiator".





Tomorrow, I hope to have another video of pictures taken from the streets of Rome. Ciao!

5 comments:

  1. Great pictures. Praying you are feeling better John.

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  2. Thanks, Butch. Still not 100% yet but feeling much better than yesterday. Thanks for the prayers.

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  3. What a sweet blessing for me to see all the pictures . . . what I learned while living in Italy changed my perspective on life, for sure!

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  4. I just realized that "Anonymous" comes across as if I didn't want anyone to know who I am . . . it's me, Donna Hostetter. I couldn't get my comment to go on anything else, so clicked "Anonymous"! I do thank you both for sharing the pictures along the way that you have! Love, Blessings & Thank You!
    Donna Hostetter!

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  5. Praying that the Lord will give you health and cause you to be strengthened in the inner and outer man. What majestic pictures of the colosseum...and yet so much suffering happened there.
    As for the picture of the pastries, I'll have two of the fruit filled tarts and two of the canolis. :)

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