Day 11 - Thursday 15 April - Rome

Today was the Forum and Colosseum day - again a great deal of walking - got up relatively early and walked to the Forum - not a very long line, but it went so slowly! The cost of the Colosseum is included in the cost of the ticket for the Forum, so we could jump the queue at the Colosseum.


What a fantastic site - they are still discovering things as they dig, so basically the Forum and Palatine Hill are a working archaeological site - which also means that some areas are blocked off, for example today the Senate House was not accessible - we had to content ourselves with a picture of the statue of Caesar in front of the Senate House, taken from the street - would have loved to have gone inside….. There are so many wonderful things that it is hard to nominate just a few, but Caesar’s funeral pile and the vestal virgin’s temple were two good ones, as well as the Senate House (Curia) and of course the arches are spectacular…. It was great to get to get to the top of the Palatine and look down on the Circus Maximus where we were yesterday.. Severus made a circus in his place as well, just not as big. The huge arches we could see from the Circus Maximus were designed to extend the hill so that a wing of the palace could be built over the top of it…..

The Colosseum was as expected - huge! Again great to walk through all that history - it was used as a sporting arena for more than 500 years. Over the years it was then also used as a place of worship and low cost housing for squatters before being restored. Weird to think all that action happened on a wooden floor covered in sand…. It had little trapdoors that would pop open and let the animals in unexpectedly…. Very bizarre.

Wandered back to Piazza Navona for lunch - lovely setting but most expensive meal so far (75 Euro)….. Watched a group of students sitting in the Piazza drawing the church in the centre. Very relaxed way to spent the afternoon.



Spent the rest of the afternoon reading and then the obligatory drink at the pub before picking up a few things to take home for dinner - chicken and vegies for Graham, ham sandwich for me. Funny experience buying the tomatoes - Graham had them all in stitches laughing because we hadn’t got a ticket for how much they cost…….

Day 10 - Wednesday 14 April - Rome

Tried to find the Appian Way again - decided to walk to Piramide where the tourist information girl said to go and get the 118 bus to Appia Antica.

Along the way we discovered the Jewish synagogue, a little ruin that the map indicates has something to do with the vestal virgins, then we came on Circus Maximus - fantastic view back across the Palatine Hill and the ruins (which we saw the next day on our Forum walk- Severus’ domus). Managed to buy a ticket , but stood at the bus stop for about half an hour before giving up and starting to walk back to the Circus Maximus - of course just as we were about 50 metres from the bus stop, the bus came!!! We did decide that if that was how long between buses, then we didn’t want to get stuck out on the Appian Way so it was probably just as well we didn’t get there!

 Decided to have our picnic on the middle of the Circus Maximus - imagining the chariots going around and around us! So much to take in, it’s hard to believe any of it actually happened…… on our walk back home, we came across the ruins of Ottavia’s portico - and on looking around, found it sits just down the road from Vittorio’s monument (the wedding cake). Apparently Augustus built it to honour his sister Octavia….. Another example of how just wandering around brings you upon significant and lovely sites….. Gotta love this city!

Another siesta and drink at the pub before a most delicious dinner at Il Fico - very good - we shared octopus and shrimp for starters, I had spaghetti with lobster and Graham had a salami pizza - the lobster was good, the salami disappointing. The desert we shared (little hot heart) was simply divine!

Day 9 - Tuesday 13 April - Rome

Got up early (relatively) this morning to head to the Vatican - started with St Peter’s Basilica - echoes of the Pantheon all around in the dome - very beautiful. Didn’t have to wait long - the line was only small at that time of the day - we walked up 521 steps and Graham had a vertigo attack at the top - the views from the top are amazing. Can’t help wondering about all that gold and graven images - very over the top and could see why Martin Luther campaigned for ‘back to basics’ - maybe it is my protestant upbringing but it all became a bit overwhelming really - dead popes buried in display cabinets probably didn’t help!


 

 
 
Vatican museums and the Sistine Chapel were a walk around the Basilica away - had to run the gauntlet of the tour guides ‘there a 9 miles of rooms, you won’t know what you are looking at…’


Once we got there, again the lines were OK - got in pretty well straight away - the trip to the Sistine Chapel was another matter - it felt like we walked the whole 9 miles on our way just to see the chapel!! Meandered through the museums and looked at some of the art - glad we didn’t do a tour, as that would have meant hours and hours in the museums - we were there long enough - just like a big palace and just as ornate and over the top - there is nothing simple about this religion - the wealth and accumulation of antiquities and precious art is just so out there……… I think it rivals what we saw of Buckingham Palace and the crown jewels… certainly more of it!!!

                                 We walked on floors just like this - made from tiny tiles...

                                The corridors went for miles.... and miles......

                                 A life-like tapestry - just like a painting

                               Tapestry of Umbria - where we were headed in Week 3

                                        Detailed ceiling painting

                                        Part of the passion of Christ

                                       Finally - the Sistine Chapel!!!

Another view - not very quiet......

                                          Stained glass Madonna and child

The spiral staircase..... just gorgeous and we could see where the Guggenheim in New York got it's inspiration!

                         We have one almost identical of the inside of the Guggenheim......

By the time we had finished in the Museums, we were starving - walked back towards home and had lunch downstairs - pasta (what else) and a lovely pear and rocket salad. Headed home for the usual siesta and then Graham headed to the pub - had a few drinks and did some catching up on the internet before buying groceries and coming home to cook - tough steak, but lovely vegies.