Ever since I was a little girl pouring over history books and watching Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck zoom around on their moped, I have wanted to visit the Colosseum. Since our AirBnB was only a 15 minute walk away, it was the first stop of the trip.

It was a bit of a drizzly day in Rome, but nothing could dampen our excitement (except the fact that we may or may not have gotten spammed buying our tickets, but we would never admit to that…)!

Small bits of the original painting still remain, I love getting glimpses of what the building would have looked like in its prime.

We all probably know about the lions and the gladiators and the sea battles, but did you know that women and plebeians were only given standing room to watch from the very top? #feministfactfortheday

The Colosseum took about fifteen minutes to walk through, but I could have spent all day in the Roman Forum. The forum contains the remains of the ancient Roman city centre (yes, the entire old city centre, and I thought the Colosseum was impressive). We spent a few hours in the Forum, and I don't think we even covered half of it.

Below you can see the remains of Rostri, the elaborate podium where Shakespeare had Mark Antony make his famous 'Friends, Romans, countrymen…' speech.

As one of the wonders of the world, the Colosseum is a bucket list item, but really, the Forum is the real historical gem for its sheer magnitude and amount of history.

Pro tip: don't go on empty stomach because your desire for pasta may win over Roman ruins.