Day 2 of our Italian visit started off as well as it could. We arrived at the colosseum with our pre-booked tickets to check out the hypogeums (dungeons) and the third level of the colosseum. Unfortunately, we were given the wrong meeting spot to go to, and missed out on the morning tour. They fortunately had some extra tickets to the afternoon tour which we accepted and headed off to check out Palantine Hill in the meantime.

Palantine Hill (or Palatino) is centermost of the seven hills of Rome and is one of the most ancient parts of the city. Here we visited the Domus Augustus, the home of Augustus, where we were able to view the frescoes that covered his home - only five tourists at a time and no photos unfortunately! We also saw the huts of Romulus, which despite being full of history, was quite an unimpressive sight.

We slowly make our way over to the Roman Forum, stopping by one of the many drinking fountains, which are quite literally fountains. Here we spied on the ruins of the Temple of Saturn, which are spectacular, if only due to their size. Listening to a free audio guide by Rick Steves, we visualized Roman generals returning with the spoils of war, flowers strewn in their path, the crowd cheering. We checked out a temple dedicated to Julius Caesar, the first built to honor a man, theoretically making him the first man to become a God. Until today, flowers are still left for him, which made us wonder "who still cares?" The tour guides, perhaps. After some time, we persevere in spite of the rising mercury and make our way towards our lunch destination.

On route, we pause to ponder the Arch of Titus - erected in his honor to commemorate the sacking of Jerusalem in 68AD. It is also known as the arch upon which the Arc de Triumph was modeled. We have taken photos for a close comparison when we are in Paris.

After a tasty lunch of lasagne and not quite gnocchi, we head to the Colosseo, known in the past as the Flavian Amphitheater, to begin our exclusive tour. The tour was FANTASTIC. We had an amusing and knowledgable guide who walked us through the history of the arena, while taking us from the very depths, to the very top of this amazing structure.

Particular highlights of the experience included the opportunity to go out onto a reconstructed arena floor, the hypogeum (underground / backstage of the arena) and of course the top level, with its spectacular views. We also enjoyed seeing the refurbished areas of the colosseum which display the original white limestone as compared to the non-refurbished areas which have absorbed much of Rome's pollution and have turned into the grey we are all used to.

The stories of the bloodshed and the way the arena operated with trapdoors for gladiators, animals and "stage sets" were mind bending. Speaking of bending... Vanessa's stomach began to do some bending of its own, approximately halfway through the tour. Little did we know this would have drastic consequences for the first half of our honeymoon...

The next three days were a blur of two doctor's visits, one pharmacy run and many hours of Ness sleeping, interrupted by Tim waking her for water, electrolytes and eventually food.

Thankfully, to Tim's great relief, Ness is well along the road to recovery and can now eat normally and has enough strength to boss Tim around again. We will depart for Florence on Saturday, and are hoping to squeeze in some more Roman sightseeing before departing.

Disappointingly, this incident resulted in the cancellation of the Amalfi Coast leg of our journey as we had to remain in Rome for Ness' recovery. We will also miss out on a few Rome sights, much to Ness' annoyance given that we spent so much time here. Admittedly, Ness now knows this hotel room very well, while Tim is a familiar face at the local takeaway joints.

Please note that at no time did we feel that Ness' condition was severe enough to warrant contacting friends and family back home - we simply followed the steps provided by the doctor, who was not concerned. For everyone who would like the full story, you'll need to wait for us to return!

In the meantime, our journey presses on and thank God for health insurance.

Tim's Observations:
(1) Upon reading the text above, you may be under the impression that Tim is the most caring and wonderful husband on earth... And you wouldn't be wrong. Tim is grateful to be able to return the favour however, for the Vietnam/Cambodia incident, where the patient/carer roles were unversed.

(2) Italians are awesome. When a local hotel operator asked why Tim was reheating small portions of food and Tim told him that it was for his sick wife, the Italian responded "oh! It is for love!". (This is best pictured with a thick Italian accent and expressive hand gestures).