Colosseum

I can confirm that the contiki cough is stronger than copious amounts of wine. The cold just keeps getting worse. For some reason, instead of having a sore throat, my tongue hurts. I couldn't even swallow any water. That mixed with a hangover, and another long day on the bus creates a miserable morning. We had to be on the coach at 7:30 this morning, and we woke up a little late. Not too late, though. Pearse said he needed a shower before we left, I thought he just wanted to stand under some cold water to wake up and maybe feel a little better. At 715 he was still in the shower, and his bag still wasn't organized. I started banging on the door, telling him the time, and we needed to go. Over the water, he couldn't hear, and I thought his response was okay. So I went downstairs to drink some water and juice. I wasn't feeling good enough to eat breakfast. I went back up about 10 minutes later, and he was still in the shower. I basically broke the door down, banging on it. While he was drying off, I started putting random shit in bags, and he came out to help me. We ran downstairs and ran to the pickup spot. It turns out he thought the bus was leaving at 8. Again, though, we made it, and everything was alright. Except neither of us had a drop of water. Our first stop was 3 hours away in Pompeii! So when we got there the first thing we did was buy 3L of water. Our guided tour of Pompeii was pretty cool. We got there before it was busy, so we got to see empty streets and could just walk into any building without waiting. The tour guide took us to all the main spots while also giving a decent amount of history. Learning about the history of a city from the year 500 was awesome. We got to see the theater they used as well as the bathhouse, kitchens, and, of course, brothels. It's funny they used penis engravings as symbols pointing to where the hostels are. They used them so people who traveled and didn't speak the language could find where they wanted to go. I thought the coolest part, though, were the mounds of dirt and grass. Most of the city hasn't even been excavated yet. Who knows what's under there. After the tour, they had a restaurant ready for all 40 of us to get a quick meal in before leaving to Rome. I ordered a pizza, but my tongue hurt too much to even finish it. I'm glad I went to Pompeii and thought it was cool, but to be honest, I've enjoyed other things more. In a way, it's almost like seeing the leaning tower of Pisa. I can say I've been there now. We had 3 hours more on the coach, but I slept for all of it. When I woke up, we were only 5 minutes from the colleseum, which was our next stop. Seeing the colleseum from the bus, I still couldn't even believe I was there. We started the tour of the collesum outside in the ruins. We walked around and got to learn what some of the buildings used to be and the relevance of them. We even got to see the building Julius Ceasar was cremated in after he was assinated. I enjoyed these ruins more than Pompeii, even though it was way smaller. Leaving the Roman Forum next was the colleseum . It's pretty intense going to the collesum. It was like an airport where we had our bags scanned twice and walked through metal detectors. It took a long time, but it was worth the wait. This time, we were there way later in the day, so the colleseum was packed with people. It was insane how busy it was. We learned it only took 8 years for slaves to build it. That's so crazy to me, especially after seeing things like the Sagrada Familia, which has taken over a century, and it's still not done. The guided tour it's self was short, and the lady didn't give us a whole lot of information. She did have a book with pictures in it from what the colleseum looked like in its prime and after it was abandoned for centuries. The illistration she showed us from the Middle Ages was so cool. Everything was covered in grass with trees growing inside. It's hard to believe there was a point in time, something as famous and well known as the colleseum went untouched for hundreds of years. After the tour ended, we ditched our group and stayed for longer, reading facts inside and eventually forcing ourselves down to the bottom where we could see where the battlefield used to be. The floor where the entertainment used to take place was made of wood, so after years of aging, it's no longer there. Now, all that's left is what supported the ground as well as the trap doors where they kept the exotic animals. It's so cool to just imagine what went on here. It's so different to anything we've ever seen it makes it hard to believe there was actually I time people paid to watch men fight each other to the death. I still can't believe I was there. After we left, I had to go buy more cold meds before dinner. I was suffering. We had our second included dinner of the trip tonight. It was a 3 course meal consisting of bread, cheese, meats, pasta, and panacotta. I think it all tasted good, I have no idea since I can't taste or smell anything. The good news was we were absolutely dead tired and we had free time now. We pretty much just checked into the hostel and climbed into bed to get a good sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a massive day.Read more