I remember having this book about the ancient civilization when I was in primary school, it was fascinating about how people got together and organised themselves. Rome was one of the civilizations that has enthralled me since then so when I got off the metro and saw the Coliseum, it was a little more than just surreal.

My family isn’t the type to follow a tour guide around so we rented an audio guide, which worked really well and took our time to soak in the over 2000 years worth of history around us. There are quite a number of guides on the outside that try to tempt you with going with them by telling you that you can skip the long queues to get in but it really didn’t take that long. So don’t feel pressured to go with any of them, especially since they charge an average of about 25Euros per person (excluding the entrance fee of 11Euros). My parents and I wandered around the hallways, took our time and I could only imagined what these walls have seen in their lifetime. We stopped for lunch before going on to explore the Roman Forum.

It was getting pretty hot so we stopped in to check out a museum on Palatine Hill. It was a simple collection of sculptures, which just blew my mind at how they could achieve such intricate details from so long ago. Then walking around the Roman Forum pretty much just silenced me, which is a pretty hard thing to do. One can’t help but be haunted with the history that just fills the place.