Foro Romano

After our visit to the Colosseum, our tour took us to the Forum and Palatine Hill.

Near the entrance

Ruins of Basilica Aemilia

In the background (columns), Temple of Castor and Pollux

To the left (in front of The Thinker), the Temple of Caesar, on the spot of his funeral pyre

Triumphal Arch of Septimus on the left

with the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele in the left background

Walking up the Via Sacra with the round Temple of Romulus on the left

Palatine Hill in the background

This is what the Temple of Romulus looks out on

Temple of Romulus

Can't remember what this is!

View back over the Forum with the Arch of Titus behind my right shoulder

View toward the Colosseum (far right) from Emperor Augustus' gardens

Augustus' gardens, recreated

 Floor from Augustus' palace

Some big, ruined place

I can't remember what the guide told us this was

Cool ruins

Colosseum

We went on a City Wonders Colosseum Underground tour on Thursday, May 15. This tour took us under the Colosseum arena floor, on the arena floor, and high up in the third tier of seats. (It also took us through the Forum and Palatine Hill, but that'll be another post.)

Walking onto the arena floor

View at floor level

(There used to be a floor all the way across, of course.)

Gus 

Contemplating life as a gladiator

Under the arena floor

Ground level

Looking down an old corridor

One of many underground passageways

 Third-tier passageway

People would walk through here to get to their seats.

View from above

 Another view from above

Gladiator pigeon plotting my demise

View looking northwest from the Colosseum

The Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II can be seen in the background 

(white with statues on top)

 View to the west overlooking the Forum

Pompeii, part 3

Note: Click photos to see larger versions.

 Another street shot

Tile entryway

 Pompeii's Forum

Columns in the Forum

 Temple of Jupiter

with Vesuvius looming in the background

 Temple of Jupiter

See the guy in the white shirt in the center?

Look directly above his head to see a sculpture of Jupiter's head 

Jupiter, close up

Pottery

These sheds are full of pottery found in Pompeii

Another courtyard

Murals

If you go through the doorway in the previous photo and turn left,

you'll see this wall of art

 Detail

Edge of town

This was the view when leaving Pompeii

Pompeii, part 2

Note: Click photos to see larger versions.

Details from the ceiling in one of the buildings

More ceiling detail

 Stairway to nowhere

 Empty street 

I have to confess that I *love* these shots that don't have any people in them. 

There were hundreds of people at Pompeii when we were there, 

so it felt like a triumph every time I was able to get a street shot without anyone in it!

 Residences behind bars

(Bars not original.)

 More homes and/or shops along the main street

Pompeii dog

Our guide said that this was one of the original dogs in Pompeii. :)

 View of the mountains beyond

 Ruins

A bed in the infamous Pompeii brothel 

Yes, that's solid stone. Even the pillow! Looks comfy, eh? 

They wanted customers to finish and leave quickly, so no soft bed for them! 

More turnover = more money.

Brothel Paintings

These are a few of the many paintings in the lobby of the brothel. 

Pompeii was a port city with visitors and traders from around the world.

Language was certainly a barrier to communication, so the brothel made it easy:

The "client" could just point to a picture of what he wanted, 

the owner could point to a sign showing the price, and no one would have to speak! 

Pompeii, part 1

This account of our May 14, 2014, trip to Pompeii is going to be pretty picture-heavy, so I'm going to break it into several posts!

Note: Click photos to see larger versions.

Our guide said this is the Gladiator School, 

but the map I have says that it's the "Quadriportico dei Teatri"

...and this is the "Teatro Grande"...

which overlooks said "Quadriportico" 

(looking to the left from the picture above).  

  

 Here's a view to the left of the previous shot, 

also taken from the top of the Theater.

Graffiti on a wall - two soldiers  

 Looking up the street

Looking down the street

A home 

Another home and its oven 

A large building on a courtyard. 

Check out the art on the wall!

Weather, part 2

And here's a look at the hail in the front yard!

Note: For some reason, the video quality on here is terrible even though I posted the same videos to Facebook and they're clear on that site.

Weather

We had a storm here today. I was in the grocery store when suddenly it started to hail. The sound was so loud it almost sounded as though the room was filled with gunfire!

Turns out we had golf-ball-sized (and larger!) hail.

And Gus took a close-up picture of the hail!