Olivia's 5th Journal Entry

Although I haven't been posting on the blog, I have been keeping a journal on my IPod, so now I just have to copy down all my journal entries onto here.
Monday:
     Today we saw the coliseum, Palentine hill, and Roman forum. On our tour of the Coliseum we learned it was built in just eight years. We learned it was built with prisoners of war from Jerusalem. We also learned that watching gladiators fight to the death was the most popular thing to watch. The gladiators were either slaves, prisoners of war, or people who just wanted fame and glory. The Coliseum was very interesting. The next historical site we went to see was Palantine Hill. The tour guide told us the story Romulus and Remus. I already knew the story and that Romulus founded Rome. What I did not know was how Remus was killed. I learned Romulus and Remus counted vultures and agreed that whoever counted more get to start the great empire. Romulus counted more remus did not agree that Romulus should start the empire. So Remus tried to kill Romulus. In self-defense Romulus ended up killing Remus and Romulus started the great city of Rome. I found the story fascinating and was disappointed when it was over. After the Palentine hill, we went to the forum. The Forum was very fascinating. We learned about the Vestal Virgins and barbarians ruining the aqueducts. We started with learning that Romulus and Remus' mother was a Vestal Virgin and she got pregnant. She was smart however and told everyone that their father was mars, the god of war. If they killed Mars' children, they would bring War upon the city. Instead they put the boys in a basket and floated them down the river. The she-wolf, Lupa, found them and raised them and their story began. We also learned about barbarians. At one time, the city was flourishing and had more than 2 1/2 million people living there. Then the barbarians came. They destroyed the aqueducts and Rome had no running water. Without that running water, the population dropped to 10,000. The day was full of ruins and learning. Then we came home. Unfortunately, we still could not rest. Shortly after we got home the power went out. That would have been fine alone but of course there was no rest for us.  A few minutes after the power went out, the fire alarm went off. Mom was in the shower so I stood with a flashlight as she hurriedly finished and got dressed. After a round of panic attacks we were all finally out of the house. We had to stay out for a few minutes before the alarm turned off and we could finally come back in. A few minutes later the lights went off and we could finally go to sleep.