…to climb [the Colosseum’s] upper halls and look down on ruin, ruin, ruin, all about it; the triumphal arches of Constantine, Septimus Severus, and Titus; the Roman Forum; the Palace of the Caesars; the temples of the old religion, fallen down and gone; is to see the ghost of old Rome, wicked wonderful old city, haunting the very ground on which its people trod. It is the most impressive, the most stately, the most solemn, grand, majestic, mournful sight, conceivable.

~Charles Dickens

Turns out it’s not very hard to convince young boys to go to the Colosseum, once they’ve grasped the whole gladiatorial combat concept. Crisp and cold it may have been, but a splendid way to start our time in Rome.

After that (conceptual) blood and gore, we marched up the Via Sacra through the Forum Romanum The lingering fragments of great temples and buildings are perhaps less straightforward for the little guys to conceptualise; nevertheless, they got into it all rather well.

The boys had particular fun in taking their own photos of the sights – the drop-proof camera is certainly demonstrating its value.