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Other entries in Rome

Il Colosseo & Notte Bianca

No early morning this morning (we felt we needed a lie-in). By the time we got out and about it was about 11. We headed initially for the Colusseum but ended up getting off the metro at Barberini to see the Trevi Fountain, since we had missed it on Thursday. It's enormous! I think it looks more enormous because of the tiny piazza it is in, The area was packed with people, but we took the necessary photos and tossed in a coin. We realised it wasn't all that far to walk to the forums anyway so we wandered down Via del Corso and found ourselves at the Mercati di Traiano. There's not a lot left of the forums on the north side of the road so we made striaght for the Colusseum. While waiting in line, some people asked if we'd like to join a tour leaving immediately and jumping the queue of about an hour. We were concerned it might be a scam but we thought we'd give it a go and i'm glad we did because it was nice to have someone in there explaining everything. There's quite a lot of it left considering how old it is.

Afterwards they said there was a second part of the tour going to the Palatine hill, but we decided to wait until the later tour at 4. We found a supermarket and got some picnic food and ate it under the walls of the colusseum. The tour of the Palatine Hill was really good, there are some amazing palace ruins up there and a great view over the Foro Romano and the city. I think the whole tour cost us £21 each and was really worth it I think. We wandered through the Foro Romano, then had a beer at a café just over the road from the colusseum.

We hadn't realised until getting here, but the second Saturday in September is Notte Bianca (white night) in Rome, with cultural events happening all over the city. Museums stay open all night and there is music and art displays everywhere. After sunset, we walked down to the Circus Maximus to see an art installation that was there for the Notte Bianca. The whole enormous area was covered with small globes that lit up with changing colours. We headed back into the centre of town and had a reasonably expensive but delicious dinner in a beautiful open garden place in the Centro Storico, before wandering around in the mass of partying people to see some of the sights including the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, Spanish steps and Piazza del Popolo, which was absolutely rammed with people watching a series of circus acts from jugglers, acrobats, and clowns. We made it home by about 1:30.

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