I Saw the Colosseum and It Took My Breath Away!

I went back to ancient times, and my wife noticed tears gliding down my face.

Have you ever seen something that you dreamed about your whole life, and when it finally happens you can't believe your eyes?

Well, let me tell you my story.

I was born and raised in Brazil, and since I was a kid, I have watched a lot of movies that would showcase the Colosseum, a piece of history in the heart of Rome.

All of its magnitude and glory has always blown my mind.

Gladiator

One of my favorite war movies of all time is Gladiator (2000). Russel Crowe plays the role of Maximus Decimus Meridius, a Roman General who loses everything he cares about and becomes a slave, a fighter, a Gladiator.

When he sees the Colosseum for the first time, he has a mix of terror and admiration in his eyes. He has to become the best to get his freedom and his vengeance.

Not exactly a great film for kids, right? Well, simpler times.

My Eurotrip took me there

I got married last year, and my wife and I wanted to have our honeymoon in Europe. I have already written a piece talking about the mindblowing Pocket Show we had at our wedding party.

Anyway, we had our eyes set in two countries, Switzerland and Germany. While planning, we ended up having one day in Italy, half a day in Milan, and half a day in Rome.

I knew that we wouldn’t have the time to have the full Colosseum experience, but I needed to see it.

The pitstop in Rome was on our way back to Brazil. We came from Germany, spent half a day in Rome, and got on a plane to Brazil the next day.

When we arrived in the capital of the Roman Empire, we left our bags in the hotel and started exploring. We didn’t have extra batteries for our cell phones, so we did the old fashion way, a map of the city.

We started walking at 4.00 pm, but our goal was not the Colosseum — that was mine — not ours. We saw the Fontana Di Trevi, the Pantheon, and many other iconic places. We were getting tired of walking around 9.00 pm, and I was in charge of the map.

The whole time we were walking, I had been secretly taking us to the path that would lead us to the Colosseum at some point.

We were walking down the Via Labicana, and then suddenly, it appeared right before my eyes. That mix of terror and admiration was now in my eyes.

I just stood there for 5 minutes without saying a word, heavy breathing, in awe. That monument I saw it in books as a kid was right in front of my eyes, and I could not believe it.

Back to reality

I am aware of history, and I know that thousands of people died there. As a Christian, I know many of my brothers and sisters slaughtered for 400 years in the name of entertainment.

That does not eliminate the fact that it is a beautiful structure and filled with history. That’s the thing. I’ve always seen it as a wonder of architecture and engineering, but my whole fascination with it was with the amount of history carved in those walls.

How many millions of people were affected by what happened there?

That thought just touched me deeply. I’m not a very emotional person, but I remember a few drops of tears streaming down my face, and when my wife called me to see the street artist that was painting with fire a few meters away, I couldn’t hear her.

I was too astonished to be aware of anything else.

We didn’t enter into the Colosseum, but just being in front of it was one of the best experiences of my life.

If you have the chance to make some of your dreams into reality, you must go for it as we have only one life.

Thank you for reading.

If you want to know about a mindblowing pocket show at my wedding party, you can read the following post.