As amazing as is the outer structure of the Colosseum, the inside views are even more so!

But first, some unfinished business from the last post ... one last image of the outside.  It is similar to the previous night image except it was taken on the street level.  The long exposures captured the lights from the buses as streaks of colors as they drove by.  The light streaks mimic the path of the painted yellow center line.  Here it is:

Entrance to the Colosseum is on the first floor; down a corridor, and then up a set of stairs which end on one of the levels.  (note: The next series of photos are arranged as if you took a walk around the level in a counterclock wise manner.)

Light is sneaking in under the clouds from the East (left) warming the colors of the red bricks, stunning me with this breathtaking view:

Walking a little way along the level, I took this close-up of the end of the upper structure in the photo above:

This section is along the end of the southern end of the oval.  If you look closely, you'll begin to notice all the arched doorways that are such a significant part of the Colosseum's design and construction, and for which the Roman's are so famous.

Now  the curve starts going back and the view is of the eastern part of the structure:

This is the end of what's still standing of the upper structure along the eastern side:

A close-up of that section.  Again, check out all the arches over the doorways ... and even some that have been filled in with bricks.

I changed to a wider angle lens at this point to take this next image to show almost all of the eastern side of the structure in one shot.  I'm standing almost at the spot where  I entered the interior.  It's one of my favorites. 

My most favorite, though, is this next image swhowing the eastern side as it begins to curve back to the North.  I converted the image to black and white and blended it back over the color version to get this "dark" version of the scene.  Perhaps a view you might have seen in 500 AD after one of the fires or after it was abandoned?  

That's it for today's post.  I'll spend a little time in the next one with some images of the details of the structure and then move on to some new parts of Rome,

Thanks for hanging in there with me.  I hope you are enjoying the trip, so far!

Bye for now,

Adam

P.S.  Did you remember to click on any of the images to see a larger view?  Really, they are best seen that way!