Picture of the Day: The Colosseum

The weather was unpredictable the day we went to the Colosseum

The day we visited the Colosseum, the weather was very windy and rainy; it turns out there was a Category 1 hurricane going through Italy. At times we were pushed by the wind and other times there were massive downpours, and then light rain or it stopped.

It is the largest amphitheatre ever built

It's very convenient to get there -- there's a metro stop for Colosseo. We didn't go into the Colosseum, but took pictures from the outside. Our pictures look kind of eerie because the sky looks pinky-gray.

The building is an impressive piece of architecture, an amphitheatre that could hold between 50,000 to 80,000 spectators for gladiatorial contests, executions, animal hunts, dramas, and even mock sea battles.

The Colosseum stopped being a venue for entertainment in the early medieval era and was turned into a place for housing, workshops, quarters for religious orders, a fortress, a quarry and a Christian shrine.

Two days later we got up early to beat the morning rush hour traffic to get to the airport on time.

Blue skies over the Colosseum the morning we leave!

On the way we passed by the Colosseum one more time -- with blue skies and puffy white clouds in the background.