The Colosseum Part II

The interior of the Colosseum - the arena. HDR technique is used as the sunlight was too strong to capture the details on the top part of the picture.

The substructures beneath the arena (hypogeum) provided space for the mechanism by which scenery and other apparatus was hoisted into the arena and lifting caged animals to the surface for release. It makes me want to watch the Gladiator starring Russell Crowe again.

It could probably hold more than 50,000 spectators.

View of the Arch of Constantine from Colosseum.

It's hard to imagine how it was built nearly 2,000 years ago.

One of my favourite picture taken inside the building. It was near evening when most visitors have left.

I appreciated the moment of quietness where no tourists can be seen in a clean picture.

Back to the real world, the area outside Colosseum is crowded with tour groups, souvenir stalls and noisy Roman 'gladiators' who keep persuading tourists to take pictures with them.

It's Italy, they have super cool Alfa Romeo 159 as police cars! (As Malaysian have the not-so-cool Waja). I like new Alfa's head lamps! FYI Carabinieri are the military police in Italy.

The Arch of Constantine, the triumphal arch which was erected in AD 315 and located right next to the Colosseum.

What is a triumph? The original triumph was once stipulated that you have to kill 5,000 of the enemy in a victory to bring a war to an end.

A couple taking the wedding photos around the area.

Another view from lower Palatine Hill.

See the moon?

The journey in Rome has just begun.

I wandered around the area until late and took this picture at 35mm, ISO 80, F22, 30 secs exposure.