Day 215, 4 February 2013, Roma, Italia - The Eternal City and all that jazz.
Now you all know we are huge fans of city passes, and usually get twice as much value as they cost by simply doing everything they offer. We investigated the "Roma Pass" and whilst different - it was still stunningly good value. Three days unlimited use of public transport, first two visits for free and any other visits at the reduced rate. Today we launched (or should I say lurched) into gear at 9.30 am - frantic to discover what a sweet continental breakfast consisted of. (Incredibly important to find out what the free/included meal of the day involves). Basically toast, cornflakes, juice, tea, coffee and morning tea (usually a sweet roll or tiramisu). We tootled out at 10.30 or so and hoofed 20 minutes across town to the Colloseum. Blazing sunshine, blue sky and about 15 degrees (45 F). It was almost swimsuit weather by recent standards. Rome is a funny old place (seriously.... started around 700 BC...). One minute you're walking down a street with apartment blocks, shops, graffiti on roller doors, lotto agents and tobacconists. Next minute you take a breath, look up and WHOA! There it is. The most colossal Colosseum. Traffic screeching past, people everywhere and an ambulance with a peculiarly Italian siren. We had been feeling a bit overdressed, hats, gloves, snuggly jackets - but once we were inside in the shade and cool we were just fine. Fortunately we purchased our Roma Passes last night and used their queue-skip feature to avoid standing in an hour long queue - just ploughed on through with many a heartfelt "scusi". Hard to believe the Colosseum has been standing since 80AD. Doubly hard to believe what spectacles were held here - in the 100 days of games held for the inauguration, over 9000 wild beasts were killed - We always thought pretty much much just Lions and Christians. But it turns out wherever the Romans went, they posted animals home - Rhinos, Elephants, Lions, Tigers etc, etc. Arch-enemy No.1 of the SPCA back in the day. On a positive note however, waste not, want not. The meat, hides and horns were distributed freely to the spectators and a roaring trade was done in blood. Good for epilepsy. Apparently. Doubt very much anything we build today will be around and drawing millions of visitors in 1900+ years. The further we travel the more the trip folds in and around and back on itself - in Nuremberg we saw the Nazi Kongresshalle, based on the Colosseum but never finished. The original is better. (Take a look at wiki for all the technical specs -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colosseum)
Having exhausted the photo-taking opportunities after an hour or two we headed over the road to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. In several places the benefits of being here in Winter were apparent. For instance a very long covered queuing area to see the frescoes at Casa Augustus. We were able to breeze right through this empty area and go straight in. Beautiful frescoes, but not a patch on the terrace houses at Ephesus with their stunning mosaics (we know - nobody cares that we have enough Roman ruins notched up to make comparisons...)
With our feet nearly worn out, but the sun still beaming down, we weren't about to give in early, so walked along Via dei Fiori Imperiali - a main road built in 1932 that goes smack through the ruins of the imperial forums. Somewhat like spotting assorted "cats of the day" in places like Morocco and Turkey (which swarm with them), in Rome we find oursleves pointing out "Old Stuff!" with amazing regularity. Much of it just sitting alongside the road and free to stare at. We reached the Piazza Venezia and saw Trajan's Column (which is the marble original of one of Napoleon's monuments in Paris). This column was to celebrate Trajan's victory over the Dacians 1900 odd years ago. Napoleon's was to celebrate a victory as well... just to rub it in he melted down the canons of his enemy and made his spiral column out of that. And so the trip folds in and back on itself. All roads lead to Rome and many roads lead from it it seems. It was time for a sit down and rest in a peaceful and quiet environment - and thus our first church visit in Roma took place. We then circumnavigated the Piazza and gazed upon the massive Vittorio Emanuele II Monument. Only been around for 100 odd years (the equivalent of born yesterday in Rome) and designed by Sacconi to commemorate Italian Unification. Right. Off round the corner we headed and straight on up Via Nazionale. Many beautiful shops were along this street and many crafty street vendors. Some of the shops specialised in Murano glass pendants for €25 and upwards. Other shops and the street vendors specialised in Churano glass - same thing, made in China and 4 pendants for €10. We will just have to visit the island of Murano when we're in Venice to learn the difference. We were lucky enough to spot Chiesa di San Paolo Entro le Mura (St Paul's inside the walls). We'd picked up a brochure for an Opera Recital and suddenly we were able to buy tickets for tomorrow night, on the spot. Tick! So much easier than getting our inn to phone and book etc. The Roma Pass was already paying for itself - 2 x €12 entries to the Colloseum and just saved 2 x €5 on our reduced price recital tickets. The end of the day was finally near and we headed back to tried and true Il Nuovo Fagianetto. Having had pizza last night we went with pasta and risotto. Just got to find some gelato and we'll have completed the Italian food groups. First full day in Rome officially finito. Sweet dreams!