The Colosseum; Day VS Night

I have been to the Colosseum many times since I have been in Rome. The differences between the Colosseum at night and in the day are very abundant. During the day the Colosseum is a tourist hot spot, with thousands of people scurrying all around you. There are people dressed up as gladiators, and vendors everywhere you look. There isn't much shade around the Colosseum, so if you go during the day and it's sunny out, be prepared for it to be hot! Nighttime at the Colosseum is a completely different story. The night I visited, the temperature was cool and the air felt damp. There weren't many people around, and most of them seemed to be out on dates. I've been learning during my time here in Rome that the Colosseum is a very popular place to take your significant other. There isn't as much traffic at night so the whole setting is quieter and less frantic.  The constant chatter of tourists is absent, and you aren't constantly bothered by vendors and tour guides. Personally, I could take in the Colosseum better at night because you were able to concentrate on your surroundings more thoroughly. It is very dark around the Colosseum at night, even though the Colosseum itself is very well lit. It's an all around different experience to visit the Colosseum at night than it is in the day time. As you can see in one of my earlier posts, you never know what you might see. I strongly suggest checking it out after dark, I promise it will be an experience to remember!

The Moon and the Colosseum

Wherever I am in the world I have always taken notice of the moon. My surroundings may be very different and I could be half way around the world, but one thing that always remains constant is the moon. No matter where you are it looks the same, although it may be located in different parts of the sky or the horizon, it still glows its same ominous shine. hen I was visiting the colosseum I did the stereotypical raise your hand over your head, close one eye and cover the moon with your thumb. For some reason doing this standing next to the Colosseum was a very cool moment for me. Notice the moon shining through the upper part of the Colosseum, the way the clouds were scurrying past the moon is made the area I was standing in dim, then get bright again. It was so awesome peering up at the moon through the openings in the outer ring of the Colosseum. Words can't describe what this was like for me. I wish you all could have been there! I guess the point of this post is to acknowledge that no matter where I'm at in the world i've always got our moon.

The Colosseum at Night

After viewing the Colosseum during the day, I thought it would be cool to head over to the area after dark. There was no let down with this assumption. I thought that it was absolutely incredible how the Colosseum was lit up at night. It was so surreal walking around the Colosseum in the dark because it was absolutely beautiful, I could see why the characters in the books we've been reading go on dates there! I was under the impression that none of my pictures that I was taking were coming out because it was so dark, but when I uploaded them onto my computer and changed the exposure settings I was very surprised at what I saw. Almost every picture that I took of the Colosseum had white orbs all over them. I thought this was really interesting because every other picture that I took that night of other things did not have this effect. If you are one to believe that an orb is a spirit or a ghost, I guess it would make sense that thousands of them would be fluttering around this ancient wonder. On any given day in ancient rome dozens of people and hundreds of animals were slaughtered on the Colosseums hallowed ground. It might have been only in my head, but the air around the Colosseum definitely did feel strange and eerie. I can honestly say that so far, the Colossium has lived up to every expectation that I had about this spectacular structure.