I was very tired last night.
I went to bed at 7pm and the alarm went off at 7.30am ...
And I hit snooze til 8.30am.
That 13 and a half hours sleep.

I do walk a very long way each day.
So bed was wonderful.
Absolutely wonderful.
My feet hurt.

All better now though!

OK.
Breakfast downstairs in that wonderful long room with the curved roof!
So many people.
They did say at reception that they were fully booked.
But you do not see a single soul in these HUGE corridors.
( I feel like racing along one and seeing how far I can slide in my socks!
But I would probably run into a bunch of people in long frocks on the way back from somewhere solemn ... so I will wait til later...)

Off for the walk to The Colosseum.
Fair way but I know the way now!
Circled it to the right hand side this time, just for another perspective.
And headed up the hill to the entrance to the Forum.
There are so many guides taking tours that you pick up an amazing amount of information even before you are in the gate.

Walked up to Palantine Hill first.
Palantine means Palace.

( That's it.
I am lost without the Internet.)

( Added after from the Internet.... )

The Palatine Hill is the centermost of the Seven Hills of Rome and is one of the most ancient parts of the city. It stands 40 metres above the Forum Romanum, looking down upon it on one side, and upon the Circus Maximus on the other.

According to Roman mythology, the Palatine Hill was the location of the cave, known as the Lupercal, where Romulus and Remus were found by the she-wolf Lupa that kept them alive. According to this legend, the shepherd Faustulus found the infants, and with his wife Acca Larentia raised the children. When they were older, the boys killed their great-uncle (who seized the throne from their grandfather), and they both decided to build a new city of their own on the banks of the River Tiber. Suddenly, they had a violent argument with each other and in the end Romulus killed his twin brother Remus. This is how "Rome" got its name - from Romulus. Another legend to occur on the Palatine is Hercules' defeat of Cacus after the monster had stolen some cattle. Hercules struck Cacus with his characteristic club so hard that it formed a cleft on the southeast corner of the hill, where later a staircase bearing the name of Cacus was constructed.

Rome has its origins on the Palatine. Indeed, recent excavations show that people have lived there since approximately 1000 BC.

This was were the Palace was built.
It was enormous.
No, I mean really, really enormous.
And there is so much to see.
It is ruins, of course but so much of it is there to see.
Courtyards.
Enormous halls and hallways.
Wonderful stone surrounds to what were windows.
Sunken gardens.... still with the stone edges of the garden beds.
I loved it.
And the view from up here was fantastic.
Especially loved looking down on The Colosseum through the huge pine trees that seem to be unique to Italy.
Long, tall trunks, then a flat mop top of green.
They look amazing in the heat.

Spent ages in and around the Forum ...
Reading the signs ...
Trying to just wander through and try to fathom how old this place is.
It was a wonderful place to walk and just gaze.
The stone columns were amazing.
The towering archways...
The round building with the ORIGINAL brass doors... Almost 2000 years old.
They have been there for almost 2000 years!
These were breathtaking.
Finally took my leave of the Forum, up past the most enormous archway.
Kept turning round to look again.

Up into Piazza Venezia.
There were huge crowds everywhere.
Music.
There was a huge kids activity day going on.
Rock Climbing.
Petting Zoo.
Basketball.
You name it.
They had it.
It was a very warm day and I bought a roll for lunch and sat on a large stone bench under the shade of those enormous pine trees and watched the proceedings.
There was live music and street performers.
It was fun to watch.
There were queues for everything.
I was glad that I could just sit and watch.
There may have been some frazzled parents in amongst that lot.
From where I was sitting, it looked hot!

The whole street between Piazza Venezia and the Colosseum was closed to traffic.
It was yesterday too.
I wondered if this was a normal thing on a Saturday and Sunday here in Rome.

( Get that?
.... Rome!)

The Colosseum one end and The Wedding Cake the other.

I climbed The Wedding Cake ...
( without the Internet ... I don't know what it is called. Will have to fill in the blanks later.)

( and for 'climbed' there, you can read ...
'took the lift.')

I looked at the queue for the climb.
Then I looked at the shorter queue for the lift ...
And with 7 Euros in my hot little hand ...
The lift won.

Wow!
What a view!
Magic.

( Added later from the Internet.... )

The Altare della Patria (Altar of the Fatherland) also known as the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II (National Monument to Victor Emmanuel II) or "Il Vittoriano" is a monument built in honour of Victor Emmanuel, the first king of a unified Italy, located in Rome, Italy. It occupies a site between the Piazza Venezia and the Capitoline Hill.

The eclectic structure was designed by Giuseppe Sacconi in 1885; sculpture for it was parceled out to established sculptors all over Italy, such as Leonardo Bistolfi and Angelo Zanelli. It was inaugurated in 1911 and completed in 1925.

The Vittoriano features stairways, Corinthian columns, fountains, an equestrian sculpture of Victor Emmanuel and two statues of the goddess Victoria riding on quadrigas. The structure is 135 m (443 ft) wide and 70 m (230 ft) high. If the quadrigae and winged victories are included, the height is to 81 m (266 ft). It has a total area of 17,000 square meters.

In 2007, a panoramic elevator was added to the structure, allowing visitors to ride up to the roof for 360 degree views of Rome.

The monument holds the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with an eternal flame, built under the statue of Italy after World War I following an idea of General Giulio Douhet. The body of the unknown soldier was chosen on 26 October 1921 from among 11 unknown remains by Maria Bergamas, a woman from Gradisca d'Isonzo whose only child was killed during World War I. Her son's body was never recovered. The selected unknown was transferred from Aquileia, where the ceremony with Bergamas had taken place, to Rome and buried in a state funeral on 4 November 1921.

I loved being on top of 'The Wedding Cake'!
The view was absolutely incredible.
Plus, I was up close to those magnificent equine statues that sit on top of the building.
You can see those from so many places in Rome.
Wandered, looked, took photos.
The people below at the kid's activities looked absolutely tiny!

Off and back down the Via dei Fori Imperial with The Colosseum in view all the way.
Wow.
They know how to close off a street.
People everywhere.
And it was hot.
The sun was blazing. Look at that blue sky!
But that view... How often do you get to walk down a road to The Colosseum?
Wandered around.
Sat and gazed up.
Wandered some more.

Circled the Colosseum and back through the streets I know ...
Not really any shops along this route.
Just as well really ...
Mainly restaurants and cafes.
Stopped for an early dinner at a place I had lunch yesterday.
Street cafe, under large umbrellas.
Grinned as a street seller would not take no for an answer from the large table of Americans behind me.
He was selling one of those 'selfie' sticks.
They gave up and bought one.
One of the women saw me grinning and asked if I spoke English.
"Oh, yes," I said.
We had a laugh.
They tried out the 'selfie stick.'
It worked!
They were quite relieved.
These were being sold everywhere on street blankets and so many people were using them.
Had lasagne.
It was lovely.
So headed off again.
Then I found a shop.
This is good, I thought.
It was an amazing shop, just newly opened and full of incredible art and sculpture and jewellery.
Had a lovely time in there talking to the 2 girl proprietors and the artist, who had been to Australia 7 times.
I bought an ornament in there.
A wonderful ball in amazing earthy tones.
I loved it.
There were really large ones but they would not have fitted in the case so, after all 4 of us stood and critically analysed the 3 smaller ones that we had placed in a row, I chose one.
We all agreed it was obviously the best one!
So funny.
Had a lovely time with these delightful people
They told me to chose a piece of jewellery to take home with me.... and so gave me a beautiful bracelet.
The artist told me especially to say hello to Australia when I got back.

Now this walk home was getting harder.
I was carrying more stuff.
Made it.
Shower.
That's it.
'Bed,' I thought.
Oh ...
4.45pm.
Bit early.
So started the blog.
Then I got a bit restless so I wandered along very long corridors, caught the lift down and went to explore the Scout's Fete in front of the church.
I'd seen it earlier and looked like fun.
Face painting ... No I didn't.
Balloon animals ... Wanted to ... didn't.
Food ... surprisingly, no.
The toffee looked very sticky.

I saw tour groups going in and out of this church so I thought I'd see what was inside.
This is a huge church and, again, I will have to add to this later.
Anyway, I wandered around.
There were all these people going through this little doorway so, in for a penny, I followed some of them.
And stood and watched amazed as huge numbers gathered in front of this glass display, not actually wanting to move on.
Another Tour Group arrived and that Tour Director told people to 'move along', others were waiting.
At least, it looked like that was what he said.

I sat on a pew for a very long time, trying to figure out what was going on.
I was tempted to ask the Priest, but he really looked busy.
And also a bit sad.
There were signs telling people not to take photos but everyone, as soon as they reached the display cabinet, whipped out their cameras and 'flashed' away.
He looked like a lovely man too.

So, finally, I wandered into an adjoining room that had an actual size replica of The Shroud.
I asked a man in there what was in the cabinet in the previous room.
In very broken English, and my non existent Italian, he explained that the people were looking at ...
2 thorns from The Crown of Thorns
Splinters from The Cross
A nail from The Cross
And the carving of the ruling that sentenced Jesus to be crucified.

This was fascinating.
OK.
Backtracked again.
Back to the corridor leading to this chapel.
Read all the signs positioned up to the doorway.
Twice ...
Because it really took some absorbing ...
I had skipped them before because there is just so much information on each one.
Lots of time though so I just went from one to the next.
And then, after all the crowds had gone, went to have a serious look.
It was fascinating.
Authenticity aside, these could be dated back eons and eons.
And, well, I loved it.
And the pilgrims certainly did.
I was the only one in the Chapel this time and I did take advantage of that and took some photos.
No flash though.

( Added after from the Internet... )

The Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem is a Roman Catholic parish church and minor basilica in Rome, Italy. It is one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome.

According to tradition, the basilica was consecrated around 325 to house the Passion Relics brought to Rome from the Holy Land by St. Helena of Constantinople, mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine I. At that time, the basilica floor was covered with soil from Jerusalem, thus acquiring the title in Hierusalem - it is not dedicated to the Holy Cross which is in Jerusalem, but the church itself is "in Jerusalem" in the sense that a "piece" of Jerusalem was moved to Rome for its foundation. The current Cardinal Priest of the Titulus S. Crucis in Hierusalem is Miloslav Vlk.

The church is built around a room in St. Helena's imperial palace, Palazzo Sessoriano, which she adapted to a chapel around the year 320. Some decades later, the chapel was turned into a true basilica, called the Heleniana or Sessoriana. After falling into neglect, the church was restored by Pope Lucius II (1144-1145). In the occasion it assumed a Romanesque appearance, with a nave and two aisles, a belfry and a porch.

The church was also modified in the 16th century, but it assumed its current Baroque appearance under Benedict XIV (1740-1758), who had been the titular of the basilica prior to his elevation to the papacy. New streets were also opened to connect the church to two other major Roman basilicas, San Giovanni in Laterano and Santa Maria Maggiore. The façade of Santa Croce, designed by Pietro Passalacqua and Domenico Gregorini, shares the typical late Roman Baroque taste with these other basilicas.

Passion relics:

Several well-known relics of disputed authenticity are housed in the Cappella delle Reliquie, built in 1930 by architect Florestano Di Fausto. They include: a part of the Elogium or Titulus Crucis, i.e. the panel which was hung on Christ's Cross (generally either ignored by scholars or considered to be a medieval forgery, two thorns of the crown; an incomplete nail; and three small wooden pieces of the True Cross itself. A much larger piece of the cross was taken from Santa Croce in Gerusalemme to St. Peter's Basilica on the instructions of Pope Urban VIII in 1629 - where it is kept near the colossal 1639 statue of St. Helena by Andrea Bolgi.

Other relics enshrined in the Chapel include:

A large fragment of the Good Thief's cross;
The bone of an index finger, said to be the finger of St. Thomas that he placed in the wounds of the Risen Christ
A single reliquary containing small pieces of: the Scourging Pillar (to which Christ was tied as he was beaten); the Holy Sepulchre (Christ's tomb); and the crib of Jesus
Some fragments of the grotto of Bethlehem.
Chapel of St. HelenaEdit

The relics were once in the ancient St. Helena's Chapel, which is partly under ground level. Here the founder of the church had some earth from Calvary dispersed, whence the name in Hierusalem of the basilica. In the vault is a mosaic designed by Melozzo da Forlì (before 1485), depicting Jesus Blessing, Histories of the Cross and various saints. The altar has a huge statue of St. Helena, which was obtained from an ancient statue of Juno discovered at Ostia.

Wandered back outside into the sun.
Sat in the huge area in front of the church on a huge stone slab/seat as the Scout's Fete was finishing up, deleting photos off my phone.
Phone says it's full.
I've taken more videos this time.
I think that's using a lot of space.

It's 7.40pm now.
Walking to The Colosseum early tomorrow to catch the Hop On Hop Off bus.
Going to the Vatican.

The HOHO bus advertises 1 hour free Wifi so I may just be able to post these blogs.
Fingers crossed.

Xxx