We left St. Peter’s Basilica and the bus drove us back across the Tiber and to the Coliseum.A side view of the Monument to King Victor Emmanuel at the Piazza Venetia.

 The Basilica of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli (St. Mary of the Altar of Heaven), the designated church of the city council.There are sections of old Roman walls and buildings all over the city.                                        Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin.The Circus Maximus with ruins of the Imperial Palace behind.  There was a re-enactment of Roman games going on.                             The ruins of the Imperial Palace.

The Coliseum of Rome was completed in AD 80and could hold 50,000 to 60,000 people. All of the entrances around the entire coliseum were numbered so there were organized sections for spectators.  The holes in the walls are where the iron has been dug out for use in armaments and other things.

 The triumphal  Arch of Constantine, erected by the Roman Senate to commemorate Constantine I’s victory over Maxetius at the Battle of Milvain Bridge in AD 313.

After a VERY long day we returned to the ship at 6:30; too late to go to the dining room for dinner but the Lido buffet always has a great selection of food so we did not starve by any means.  After dinner we took time to put the tons and tons of photo we had taken onto the computers and then happily went to bed.  Our whirlwind tour of Rome was fabulous.

The next day (April 23) was a sea day and one of the Canadians on board had organized a lunch for all of the Canucks on the ship.  About 46 Canadians gathered in a section at the back of the dining room and had a good visit.  There had been almost 200 Canadians on the cruise but many of them had disembarked in Venice or Rome.

That evening was Italian Night in the dining room, and, if you wished to take part, there was a Hellenic-Roman Toga Party in the Ocean Bar in the evening.   John and I had brought along some outfits for the occasion.  I even had a long, curly red wig!  It was so much fun.  The photo below that was taken of us with some of the dining room and front desk crew was posted on Holland America Line’s web page.