Summary of trip - Part 5

So it's our first full day in Rome, Saturday, July 5th. After a good night sleep, we go for breakfast in our hotel. The hotel is called Hotel Santa Maria. It is located in a 16th-century convent and was completely renovated in 2000. It is a very nice room, actually it is a duplex (they call it a junior suite mansard (whatever a mansard is). So we have two floors. The upstairs area where my wife and I slept had a sloping ceiling (sort of what you would find in a cape style house). The center was high and the ends were very low. I learned very quickly to walk hunched over after hitting my head several times. In the bathroom, it was the same story, the shower was situated in the center, but it was easy to bang your head if you were not careful, and you happened to stray a foot or two in either direction. The room was air conditioned or at least what the Italians call air conditioning. I find that the air coming out of the unit is relatively cool, however unlike here in the US, the air is very damp. It doesn't seem to remove the humidity very well from the air. So every place in Italy that has air conditioning feels very damp, so you kind of feel like you are inside a cave. But, it's better than nothing, as I would in a few days learn. It seems that most hotels throughout Europe, when you are quoted a price for a hotel room, it usually includes all the taxes and also a breakfast. Our breakfast is usual hotel type Continental style breakfast that includes various cold cuts, cheeses, croissant, rolls, breads, fruit, and yogurts.




We decided that morning that we would start our Roman adventures with a walk to the old city of Rome, home to the Forum, the Coliseum, and Palatine Hill. So after about a two mile walk over the bridge across the Tiber and through some very windy streets, and after a lot of grumbling about tired feet, we found our way to the Roman Forum. The Forum is a very interesting part of Rome, with lots of old ruins of temples, arches, columns, homes, and buildings, where the everyday Romans lived their lives over 2000 years ago. We did this piece of the visit on our own. But I took lots of photos. Here are a few.






You may be able to tell from the photos that the Forum area is much lower that the surrounding city. This is because over the last two thousand years the new city has been built up over the original city.



Another interesting thing that you see all over this part of Rome are men dressed in gladiator costumes. These men will gladly encourage you to come over to them to take a photograph with them. The problem is that these guys are actually con men, who after you take the photograph, will demand that you pay them a large amount for the photo. I have heard of cases of men demanding 50 to 100 euros ( 70 to 150 dollars) for one photo. We were previously warned about these fellows, so stay clear of them. Besides do you want to argue with a a man with a sword ?

We then headed over to the Coliseum which was my favorite part of the day. The Coliseum, that quintessential part of Rome, is actually known as the Flavian Amphitheater and was completed in the year 80 AD by the Emperor Titus. The reason it was called the Coliseum was that originally there was an enormous statue of Emperor Nero at the location of the amphitheater which was called the Colossus. Once we arrived at the Coliseum, we saw the ticket lines were very long. We were approached by a young Irish man who worked for a tour company that offer tours of the Coliseum in English, and most importantly, it eliminated the need to wait on the long line. We joined up with a group of other Americans and skipped ahead of the line and began our tour. Fortunately, the cost of this tour was only a few euros more than what the regular entrance price was, so in my estimation it was very much worth it.

Our tour guide was a very nice Italian lady who pointed out many interesting facts about the Coliseum. Three of which I found interesting were, first, despite the fact that the Coliseum is recognized as a holy site by the Catholic Church, because many people believe that the Coliseum was the site where early Christians were put to death by the Roman emperors. This actually is a myth that developed during the Middle Ages. Christian martyrs were put to death by Emperor Nero, who reigned prior to the construction of the Coliseum.

The second fact that unlike the image that Hollywood provides regarding how the gladiators looked from such movies like Gladiator or Ben Hur, most gladiator were short and stocky. They seldom were more than 5 feet tall. They had very dark hair, brown eyes, and a tanned complexion. She said sorry to the ladies who thought that your typical gladiator looked like Russell Crowe.




The third interesting thing that I learned is that the Coliseum was once completely round. The shape of the Coliseum that we know today is the result of an earthquake that occurred in 1349 which caused the southern section to collapse. Interestingly enough, this also happens to be the side of the Coliseum which receives the most sun. Something to be said for the very warm Roman weather and the strong sunlight that baked the Coliseum for centuries. Another side note is that the outside is marble but most of the structure is actually made with bricks. A lot of the marble that is missing today was actually "recycled" (Roman for stolen) by various groups and much of it can now be found in the magnificent cathedral in Saint Peters.





After our tour of the Coliseum, we learned that our tour also included a tour of Palatine hill. Palatine hill was the site where the Roman emperors had their palaces. In fact the word "palatial" and "palaces" comes from Palatine. The sight was very interesting and well worth seeing. Here's a few cool shots.




The Palatine site was enormous and there was a lot to see. The Emperors who lived on this site truly lived a extravagant lifestyle for the age which they lived. They prove the saying that it's good to be king (although most of them died very badly).

After a long day of sightseeing we headed back to our hotel for rest. We went to our favorite little pizzeria for dinner and enjoyed the street performers for another fine Roman evening.