Good news for you globe trotters… you can now buy your tickets to the Colosseum online. No more wilting under the hot Roman sun while you shuffle your feet in the mile-long line that snakes to the on-site ticket counter. The news comes just a few weeks after the ancient Roman arena was recently named one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. (How’s that for timing?)
The online booking system simplifies getting around the popular tourist attraction. Once you’re on the site you are allowed to pick a spot on a guided tour in your language of choice. The tour provides access to the first century arena and its many exhibit areas as well as the nearby Palatine Hill, where Rome’s emperors lived in style.
Online tickets cost $17 and are collected at a Colosseum counter dedicated to Internet bookings. By the end of the summer the website will allow paying tourists to print the tickets and bypass the Colosseum counter.
Visitors who have already taken advantage of the new system say it is a real time saver. When you consider that each year, 4 million people pay to visit the Colosseum and the Palatine you have to know the lines to enter are looooong. For those of you who have never been, the Colosseum was inaugurated in A.D. 80 and includes a 50,000-seat arena, which has greatly influenced the design of modern sports stadiums. There’s nothing quite like being able to stand where thousands of gladiators dueled to the death and, according to traditional accounts, Christians were fed to the lions.
Closer to home (for American readers) a famous monument in Tennessee recently reopened to the public. The Sunsphere, located in Knoxville, Tennessee is celebrating the rededication of its fourth-floor observation deck, which had been closed since 1999. The deck is located inside the massive golden globe, which sits atop a 266-foot tower symbolizing the energy-themed 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville. Now that it is reopened it provides visitors with an unobstructed 360-degree view of the city and the surrounding areas.
According to city officials, Knoxville residents helped foot the $281,300 bill to refurbish the observation deck in time to mark the fair’s 25th anniversary. Some of the new additions include energy-efficient lights, heat and air conditioning and fire suppression systems.
City officials say the deck is expected to draw nearly 80,000 visitors a year. It is open from daily from 9 a.m. until 10 p.m., and admission is free.
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