Day 3 - June 2nd

We breakfast early at our hotel and then jump the Metro to the Vatican Museums. We will enter the museums under the statues of Michealangelo and Rafael. These were two of the greatest artists for the popes during the renaissance. You will have unparalleled views of Michaelangelo's cupola del duomo di San Pietro. This tour includes the Vatican tapestries and map room of Italy. You will get to visit the Sistine Chapel. The tour concludes in St. Peter's Basilica.





Back on to the Metro and we'll zip across town to the Coliseum. We can eat lunch near the Vatican or near the Coliseum. This is one of the "not to be missed" sights of ancient Rome. It is an engineering feat of extraordinary sophistication and as beautiful ans anything to be seen in the city. Yet the horrors it witnessed and the cruelty it accommodated make it a confusing place to visit. A few statistics to bear in mind while enjoying the remarkable views through its graceful arches and marveling at its survival over the centuries.: the original circumference measured a third of a mile, it's four-story mass supported by a ring of concrete 43 feet high, sunk into a marshy bed of a lake reclaimed from Nero's garden. Streaming through 76 numbered entrances, 50,000 spectators could make their way to their seats in 10 minutes. Built by Jewish slaves in the wake of a failed revolt, the stadium was inaugurated for the people's pleasure with a daylong slaughter of 5,000 animalas, one dispatched every ten seconds, and made pleasant by means of retractable awnings, unfurled by sailors fro the Imperial navy, who also manned the galley's in mock sea battles.Women were restricted to the uppermost levels, except the Vestal Virgins,who held places of honor close tot he Emperor and were helped to passageways know as vomitoria as needed.

The Palatine Hill