Today was our first day visiting Rome. We spent the whole day walking around the Palatine Hill, including the Coliseum, Roman Forum, and Piazza Venezia. We took over 300 digital pictures, between Dan and me. The history represented in these ruins is overwhelming. You can really see how the Roman Empire shaped the history of Western civilization. As I was walking around these sites, listening to the tour guides telling about the history, I marveled at how people built these huge buildings without the tools we consider essential today. I also saw a lot of modern construction. I wonder if the tourists of 1800 years from now will see those structures, as we have witnessed here in Rome.