I had reserved a tour of the Colosseum and Ancient Rome for this afternoon, but our day was wide open until 3:00. James and I decided that we would roughly follow one of Rick Steve's walking tours to cover some of the other Roman highlights: Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, Pantheon, etc. We'd learned on our first trip to Europe twenty years ago that you can really only loosely follow Rick...his directions tend to be pretty poor, so we were going into this with the idea that it might be a bit of an adventure!
We started out with Hotel Napolean breakfast. I'd prepped the kids for a European breakfast, telling them to just expect crusty bread and nutella. I was sure wrong here - eggs, bacon, cereals, juices. They did have crusty bread, but they also had huge platters of croissants. Rudy picked one up that turned out to be a Nutella croissant...and not just a little nutella; it looked like the baker had stuffed at least half a jar of nutella into this pastry! I wound up with one with a vanilla cream in it. I'm not one to shy from sugar, but this was like a half cup of straight up Betty Crocker vanilla frosting; even I couldn't do it!
We started the day with a hearty breakfast at the hotel and
walked through the park to the train station.
We had read and been told that violent crime was rare in Rome. We wouldn’t get mugged, but might get
pickpocketed. Even still the park first
thing in the morning did not give you warm fuzzy feelings and we had definitely
avoided the bigger one close the Colosseum the night before even though it
would have meant a shorter walk. This morning
in the daylight we took both kids firmly by the hand and walked briskly and
confidently through from the hotel to the train station and caught bus #70. The concierge had drawn the route from memory on our
map. He’s been working at the hotel
since 1978. We rode the bus to near
Campo de Fiori. This was set up as a
market in the morning and is also where the senate was meeting when Ceaser was
assassinated. -James
We never got used to the fact that we were constantly stumbling into ancient ruins or stunning churches in Rome. As soon as we got off the bus, we crossed to some ruins. Marked with only one small, poorly maintained sign, these are the ruins of the four temples in the Area Sacra dell'Argentina dating from 400-200 BC!
This was day 2 of
Rome. Today we woke and got breakfast
and I had a Nutella croissant. Then we
went exploring in Rome for a bit. Then
we met at the Colosseum. Before that we
went to the bus stop and got on the bus to some old ruins with cats and we walked
beside the Tiber River for a bit. Then
we went to Piazza Navona an old race track.
Then we went to some churches and you walk into these churches and you
are just baffled that they aren’t in the tour books. It’s just amazing why they don’t put them in
the tour books. Ok enough about the
churches. Then we went to the Pantheon
it had the biggest dome until the Duomo and then we went to the Trevi Fountain. I flicked a coin into the Trevi
Fountain. After that we went to the
Spanish Steps. I dunked my head in the
sinking boat fountain at the bottom.
Then we went souvenir shopping. I
got an Italy sweatshirt from my grandparents.
Then we went on a private tour of the Colosseum. We had a great tour guide. Her name was Veronica. After we saw the Colosseum our tour guide
took us to the Roman Forum. We climbed
Palantine Hill then after the tour we got dinner and went to the hotel and went
to bed. -Rudy
We then walked to Piazza Navona and saw a cool fountain by Bernini. He did the big bronze altar at St. P and the fountain at the foot of the Spanish Steps. It was called the four rivers. Four major rivers and the “four continents”. Piazza Navona used to be a racetrack for foot races and we saw the orginal entrance 20 ft below current street level. After gelato (of course) we moved on the Pantheon. This place is still in good shape because it stayed in constant use the whole time b/c they converted it to a Christian church around 400 AD or so. -James
Bernini's Four Rivers fountain with St. Agnes Church in the background.
Amazing how you can still see the race track in the street design today:
We stopped for gelato at Tre Scalini, which supposedly has the "best" chocolate. It was pretty fantastic.
We all got a giggle out of this picture. Kathy and Tony told us about the levitating man that they saw in Piazza Navona...
Today was our first
morning in Rome. We had croissants for
breakfast and headed out. We did a
walking tour and walked to a market, walked to Piazza da Vona. We went to St. Agnes an awesomely painted
church that isn’t even in the tour books.
Then we went to the Pantheon which had the largest masonry dome until
the Duomo. Then we went to the
Colosseum. We learned that they had sand
on the arena to soak up the blood! Also
they had really steep stairs leading so everybody would leave quickly! They could get all 70,000 people out of the
amphitheater in 20 minutes! -Brady
Every now and then on our walk we would just pop into some church we were wandering by and be amazed at its size or artwork. One church had painted an optical illusion dome in the middle of its latin cross. -James
This is inside of St. Ignatius. The painting on the ceiling included references to each of the four continents. St. Ignatius was constructed from 1626-1685.
Since we didn't have an official agenda, we enjoyed just strolling the Roman streets from one destination to another...
Trevi Fountain is undergoing renovation. We could still see most of it, but the kids had to toss their coins into a specially constructed mini-fountain. I hope it works, and they'll return to Rome again!
We ended our walk at the Spanish Steps which are eternally underwhelming. We cooled out heads in the fountain and then caught the metro to the Colosseum. -James
We got there early and settled for the restaurant right next
to the Metro and across from the colosseum.
It offered, as Rick Steves put it, neither good food nor good value, but
it offered convenience and respite. We
killed about 45 minutes and refueled and then found our tour guide and Mom and
Dad. -James
We knew we could have walked a bit to a different restaurant, but we were pretty far away from being able to find anything even remotely off the beaten path. This place had a seat and nice views - and this dessert, which won the boys over!
We got into the colosseum and spent about 1.5 hrs in
there. Veronica did a great job. Much more engaging and talked to the
kids. It has really seen better days,
but it is still amazing that it only took 8 years to build. -James
Originally called the Flavian Amphitheater, the Colosseum became known as it is today because of the colossal statue of Emperor Nero that once stood between it and the Roman Forum.
Just like today's colosseums, each gate is marked with a number so you know where to enter!
Originally, each of these arches would have held a statue.
Veronica pointed out that the bricks are reconstructed parts of the Colosseum, making it easy to see what's original and what's newer.
The Colosseum was constructed under Emperor Vespasian. He leveled the sumptuous palace built by the hated Emperor Nero that was on the same spot and built instead this arena for the sole use of entertainment for his people.
What the seats would have looked like...entry to the games was free for Romans, who would have spent an entire day at the venue. When we exited, we took the stairs which were known as the vomitoria, for their ability to funnel 70,000 spectators quickly out of the building!
At the floor level. There is a partially reconstructed floor, under which you can see the originally maze of passages that were instrumental to putting on the major productions at the site.
Our best fighting faces ... ?!
Veronica was intent on painting a mental picture for us. She had a book that showed the overlays, but only showed it at the end. She was amazing at describing what it might have been like to visit the Colosseum in its heyday almost 2000 years ago.
Another view, with the reserved seating for the vestal virgins behind us. The vestal virgins were selected as children and served 30 years tending the sacred fire and hearth of Rome.
View from the Colosseum toward the Forum:
From there we moved on to Palatine Hill which we didn’t do
last time. We learned some history and
saw some ruins. There is not a lot intact but you get a sense for the enormity – how palatial – it was. We took a detour through the museum and then
stood on top of the hill overlooking the forum and got a birds eye tour. -James
Amazing detail on the wings of victory:
The original street level is at James' feet. You can see how much was excavated to uncover the palace!
Palantine Hill is supposedly where Rome began...this is where Romulus and Remus were first found in a cave and where Romulus later decided to start his city. This is the remains of the Domitian Palace and his personal stadium...
The museum on Palatine Hill provides some image of what these ancient palaces must have actually looked like. They would have been decorated inside and out with intricate tile work, frescoes, sculptures, and vibrant colors. Since all we can see today is gray stone, it's hard to imagine how this riot of color and decor would have changed the appearance!
Dionysis, even including blonde hair!
The views back down to the Forum were amazing! The long grassy area in the middle was the house of the vestal virgins, adjacent to the temple of Vesta.
We walked down to the bottom and met back up with Mom and
Dad and said goodbye to Veronica. Then
armed with Veronica’s information and our Rome overlay book we did the Forum on
our own. -James
The Temple of Antonio and Faustina. Veronica told us that at the time of Michelangelo, the green door was at street level and this building had been converted to a church. Later excavations showed that the original entrance was actually another entire flight lower!
Smiles all around, but we were starting to feel some antiquity fatigue!
We walked back and hit a corner restaurant and gelato on the way back and watched a mustachioed busker perform with his crystal ball. Every street performer we saw got a contribution from us I think and a few calculations came up with about 30 Euro/hr. Not too bad tax free. -James
