Rome wasn't built in a day...

Probably my (Kayla) favorite sight in Rome was Ostia Antica. After taking the sweltering, graffiti clad tram 30 minutes outside of Rome, we arrived at the miles and miles of Roman ruins. These ruins dated as far back as 700 B.C. The ruins are said to be better for understanding Roman life than Pompey. The craziest thing was that these ruins are not roped off, policed or crowded. We walked along the rims of ancient and crumbled walls, stood in the middle of exquisite, centuries-old mosaic floors, and explored weed infested alleys and rooms. It was simply fantastic! To touch the same brick and mortar that people painstakingly placed centuries before Christ, is unbelievable. Even as I write this, its hard to believe I was there, walking among the ghost homes and shops of a once bustling and pivotal part of Rome. Anyway, enough of my gushing. The highlights of Ostia were the "snack bar" with a bar still in place, the latrine room with rows of holes over a once-open sewer, and a bath house with mostly intact mosaics of body-builders. The mosaics were not labeled or roped off with any decorum, but just found in different "shops". They were mostly of people swimming, but some of our favorites were dolphins and horses being attacked by panthers (why? We don't know. Apparently nobody does... nothing was marked... note to self: buy the audio tour). We mostly enjoyed just walking through the old homes, sitting on the staircases leading to nowhere, and "exploring" among the rocks and bricks and weeds covering a good portion of Ostia. It's remarkable how little is actually uncovered and well-preserved looking. That about covers ancient pagan Rome. More to come on St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican!