A Midnight Walk To The Colosseum: Visiting Rome Italy

I spent my 40th birthday in Italy with my brother and his family. Never in my previous 39 years did I think I would ever be celebrating any birthday in Italy, let alone such a big one. But there I was, in the Portland,OR airport sipping on an incredibly overpriced airport bar old fashion and ready for my flight to Rome! I felt very grownup and fancy. I'd even decided that 40 was now the appropriate age to have actual luggage and not just the duffle bag I'd been slinging around for the last decade. Now when I say I felt fancy and grown up, I mean I wore my nicest flannel shirt, jeans with no holes and my smart wool socks with my favorite sandals (my feet always get cold on airplanes). I may have been headed to one of the high fashion capitals of the world but as the old saying goes, "a leopard doesn't change his spots." So I boarded the plane with my new fancy carry-on luggage, ready for another semi fancy old fashion and my decidedly not fancy socks, sandals and flannel!

I arrived in Rome about 9:30 the following night and met up with my brother and his family at the hotel. After all the hugs and hellos my brother and I went out for a late dinner at a really cool local spot. We sat at a quiet table along the back wall of this old ass building (that's my professional archaeologist lingo...did I mention I studied archaeology in college...), with beautiful wooden beams and lime-washed walls, stuffed our faces with pasta and of course drank all the wine. It was so great to be back with my brother, just the two of us, talking and laughing and both in complete awe that I was about to turn 40. Time was going by so fast and neither of us felt old or mature enough to now be reaching that age!

We were headed back to the hotel when my brother said, "hey, you want to go see the Colosseum?" I absolutely wanted to see the Colosseum but I had assumed that would be a day time thing and not a casual stroll you took at almost midnight. He and his family had been living in Italy for a while now and had been to Rome many times sightseeing with other family members and friends so he had a pretty good lay of the land and knew we weren't too far. So off we went on our midnight stroll to see the freakin' Colosseum! I'll never forget rounding the corner that night and seeing it for the first time with an almost full moon shinning bright above it. It felt incredible at that moment , just days from turning 40, to let my self be completely amazed by something. And not just by the storied structure in front of me but by the atmosphere of all the other people milling about carrying on a hundred other conversations and taking photos, the moonlight, the crisp November air and the HISTORY, of the ground I was walking on. I felt overwhelmed in the best, kid on Christmas morning, kind of way. It felt like I had an imagination again. That somehow over the years of moving through life and adulthood, I had lost it and now it was back. Just like that.

I did get to see the inside of the Colosseum the next day and I'm glad I did, but no tour guide or special, miss the long line, pass could have ever recreated that incredible night for me. We took the obligatory selfies, people watched, spent time pointing out different features of the architecture and took the time to be outside walking around Rome. It was a core memory made for me. Just me and my brother, outside, looking up at the Colosseum and a full moon.