One is a wanderer: Rome as home

"A new visitor should go first to the Colosseum.

Since it is said that Rome will stand as long as the Colosseum stands,

and the world will last as long as Rome stands."

—Virginia Bush Suttman

Colossal. It's really the only word for the Colosseum, and for Roma, one the first world's first great cities. And one of the most brutal.

For years, I've avoided Rome, despite Cousin Liz telling me I could not call myself cultured never having been here. Intimidated by the scale, by the reports of strikes and pickpockets and how chaotic and overwhelming it is. I chose a small family-run hotel near the Borghese park, where the family lives upstairs and Mamma Teresa cooks you breakfast.

I'd been to Italy twice. (Look at how cute I was, a million years ago. Right after this picture, I went downstairs to the bathroom and ran into Fritzi.)

Now I was ready for the lions.

As promised, this is a walking city. Every block is full of history and art and architectural wonders.

I even found a bit of home at the vintage shop.

The arch of Constantine, built in 315 AD, and one of the last landmarks of imperial Rome. Like so much history history, it's more than a little dark and fascist.

Today, the Washington Post recommended a story about places that are being destroyed by tourism and notes that instead of going to Rome, you should go to Verona. Last year Rome had 10 million visitors.

But this is a bit ridiculous. Rome has almost 3 million residents. And it's really not crowded in mid December. The "line" for my reserved tour took exactly 1 minute. In its heyday, 70,000 people attended the games, 5 days a way for 390 years.

So those holes in the Colosseum had iron rods in them. Also the Colosseum was covered, like the astrodome. First opened in 81 AD, more than 400,000 people died here and a million animals.

Originally there was marble covering the frame, when it was erected in 60 AD. In later years, it was mined as a quarry, and the marble was used to build other Roman monuments and churches.

Pretty stunning from every angle.

Hot items for sale outside: mobile power packs and selfie sticks.

I went on a subterranean tour given by a young archaeology student. She was excellent. She said it's hard to get a job as an archaeologist in Italia.

Each tier was reserved for a different class of spectator. The emperor had his own entrance. So did the gladiators; one for live gladiators, another for dead or injured. In the beginning, gladiators were little better than soldiers or slaves, fighting for their survival, But later they became celebrities.

Above the emperor sat the vestal virgins, who were rich. In the next tier, there were equestrian soldiers, and then at the very top, women, and slaves. Entrance and snacks were free.

Our small group descended into the floor, where the animals were held in cages. This is a reconstruction of the elevator that raised the animals up to the stage level.

Each day featured 3 shows: a "hunt" where hungry animals imported from Africa and Asia killed each other. The lunch time show was gladiators fighting other gladiators or animals. And the final show of the day was executions of prisoners and slaves.

It's estimated that 60,000 Jewish slaves built the Colosseum. I asked our guide about shows like Domus Aurea, which projects interpretations of what Nero's palace looked like onto the ruins; "I recommend you use your imagination," she scoffed.

Great view over toward the Arch of Titus, built to commemorate when Titus conquered Judea.

You can encourage your kids to learn "history" and be emperors too. Not sure if you get to feed anyone to the lions, but the swords and pitchforks are cool.