ROME, pt. 3

Sunday, September 14

We had free time in the morning for about four hours, so Katy and I went to Trastevere, a little neighborhood on the south back of the Tiber. It's apparently a very old neighborhood that is representative to the true Rome. We wandered around aimlessly for a while, and we stumbled upon a beautiful little church called St. Mary in Trastevere. Inside there are large columns lining the nave, but all of them are in different styles. We ate lunch at a cafe nearby and then headed back to the hotel.

At 2:30 we took a bus tour around Rome, starting with some of the government buildings, including the building where Mussolini gave his "Black Shirt" speech. We saw some of the previous buildings we'd already seen close up. We drove past the Circus Maximus and stopped at the Colosseum.

The Colosseum was really cool. Our tour guide (Giuseppe) showed us the interior structure before taking us out onto the upper level. The Colosseum is build on a system of arches in the Roman style, with a keystone in the center distributing the weight evenly on two halves of the base. The arches would have been covered (as would the exterior) with white marble. The arched ceiling would have been plastered in white and gilded.

There were five tiers of seats in the Colosseum, divided for the different social classes. The gladiators were lowered into the arena--via a series of archways around the base--by elevator. The animals were kept in tunnels below the arena. There is a partial reconstruction of where the floor would have been. It was covered in sand that would allow the gladiators (who were barefoot) to grip better, as well as would be easy to change.

When the Christians took it over, it became a quarry. The marble was stripped and used to build St. Peter's. It was also also a place of pilgramage for Christians to visit where the Christian gladiatos were slain.

From the Colosseum there is a beautiful view of ancient Rome. The most spectacular thing was the Temple of Venus, which is almost intact on one of the hills. There are lots of Mediterranean pine trees, called umbrella pines, surround the area. Check out my albums for photos!

We left around 5:30 for Florence. I really enjoyed my trip to Rome, and I'm looking forward to the next time I go!