Monday 21 November The Colosseum!!
Breakfast was served at 9am in our room (well actually our ante-room) – yoghurt, bread and jam, apples, croissant and cappuccino. Wow. J rang her mum to catch up and wish her happy birthday and Courtney turned up on skpye. So we didn’t get out until 10am.
We walked to the Colosseum for about 20 minutes, enjoying the distinctive characteristics of Rome as they unfolded – tiny Fiats, Parisian streetscapes but with lots of litter, cars actually stopping at zebra crossings, pizza shops and sandwichy places. Fridge magnets everywhere with a huge range of themes. Lots of Venetian masks (*tick*), moulded Roman ruins, close up of part of Michelangelo’s statue of David (ashamed to admit *tick*), scenes from old movies set in Rome etc. Cheap too – E1. Wish we had a bigger fridge.
Cute miniature cars
The Colosseum is colossal. Used to seat 50,000 so bigger than Subi Oval, although the arena is about 50m across.
Amazing network of chambers underneath the main arena where they housed gladiators, hundreds of large wild and exotic animals and massive backdrops and other scenic items that were winched up through trapdoors with heavy counterweights. The acts included some comic or cultural performances but mostly it was all about Death. People and animals killing each other or being executed. They even staged re-enacted naval battles, although there was no actual mention of sharks or whales.
Outside
Inside
Me
Amazing network of chambers underneath the main arena where they housed gladiators, hundreds of large wild and exotic animals and massive backdrops and other scenic items that were winched up through trapdoors with heavy counterweights. The acts included some comic or cultural performances but mostly it was all about Death. People and animals killing each other or being executed. They even staged re-enacted naval battles, although there was no actual mention of sharks or whales.
Basement. Part of wood floor replaced. White marble Senator seats visible at far end.
Fortunately the Italians are less fussy than the Greeks when it comes to allowing tourists to contort themselves on spare chunks of ancient masonry. Yes, we did not let the opportunity pass. So there are several (somewhat rusty) lotus postures on film. J scuppered my proposal to plank across the corner railings of the top tier of the grandstand by refusing to film it.
Our room even has a safe so, for the first time ever, we went out without any passports, cards etc. So we couldn’t get an audio guide. Luckily, J has become a master of subtlety and has acquired the skill of eavesdropping while pretending to peruse objects in the same vicinity.
Nero
Constantine Arch
Friends, Romans ......
After several hours, we wandered up the adjacent Palentine Hill, which is covered with temples and emperors’ residences in various stages of collapse. There were some glorious patches of gardens and parks in between, often lined with statues. Although they were all incomplete and some were barely vestigial, the white marble and the classical lines built an atmosphere of ancient style and luxury at the heart of one of the World’s greatest Empires .
We believe this is St Peter's at the Vatican
More temples and ruins, this time the Roman Forum at Palantine Hill.
Much of it related to the era of Nero and there is a themed audio-visual show being displayed at various sites in the area, depicting various representations of his character. The stereotype is of Nero fiddling while Rome burned, and it is alleged that he actually started the fire in order to make way to build a massive new city named after himself. In fact he did start a massive building programme with some visionary ideas, but he died at 32 so none of it was completed during his reign. As well as Nero, we were treading in the footsteps of Julius Caesar and co., Hadrian, Constantine and so many more historical figures.
Fortunately, some of the buildings that have been buried until recently are extremely well preserved and have detailed murals and mosaics in good condition. Some buildings have been enclosed in protective coverings and sunlight and outside air have been excluded.
We left at sunset and made our way back by the metro to the main station, where we had maccas (hey we didn’t have any lunch) and then walked home. It was noticeable that the Italians do not barricade their turnstiles in the Parisian style and we ended up quite confused and lost when we came out because there was nowhere to cancel our tickets. We were wandering about for some time before we realised that the turnstiles turn freely and you dont need to clock out at all. Another recently learned behaviour is frequent handwashing and we were very keen to soap Rome off our hands before eating. Maccas did not have a restroom or even a handbasin and the public toilets were guarded by assholes who demanded one euro to allow entry to the toilets for any purpose, so we were reduced to eating our fries wrapped in a serviette.
Today’s weather was glorious but Franco said tomorrow might rain so we plan to try the Vatican, which will be mostly indoors.
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