Mon. 09-17-07 -- Rome, Italy
I ended up staying up late last night planning out our 3 days in Rome. For today I planned for us to tour the ancient part of Rome, but first we had to find a hotel for the next 3 nights.
We got up at 8:30 and walked a loop in our neighborhood, stopping at hotels/hostels in our price range that were recommended by our tour books. The first place we found was booked, the second place didn't answer, but the third place had a drab room with two single beds and no toilet or shower in the room for 65 Euros per night. We thought about continuing our search, but we were eager to start actually seeing Rome, so we just settled on this place.
We walked back to our old hotel, and picked up our bags. We walked them over to our new hotel (maybe a quarter of a mile away) and dropped them off. OK, we were finally ready to see some of Rome!
We bought Roma Passes (3 days of public transportation and free/discounted entry into some sights) and hopped the metro to the Colosseum. As we left the metro station, it was right there in front of us, wow! We walked over, and there were tons of tourists all around. There were also a bunch of people harassing us to buy English language tours through the Colloseum. Because of the Roma Pass, we were able to skip the GIANT line to buy tickets and just saunter right in! It was pretty incredible to see this giant structure still standing after 2000 years! It looked huge from the outside, but somehow looked smaller than I expected on the inside. I guess that's a good thing, no bad seat in the house! We walked around inside and took a lot of pictures. It was pretty neat to see where the actual gladiators fought, but it was also weird to think about how people came to watch empire-sanctioned death and gore.
After the Colosseum, we walked around the outside a bit, then left to look for lunch. We found a little Italian place (I guess they're all Italian here!) and got pasta for lunch. Then we walked back toward the Colosseum and entered the Roman forum. This place was beyond description! There were so many building in various stages of ruin, it was truly breathtaking! There was one building, Basilica of Constantine that still had one wall up with 3 gigantic arches. I was in awe at how huge they were! We saw the spot where Julius Caesar's body was burned, and we saw the 8 remaining columns of the Temple of Saturn, built in 850 BC!
After walking all through the forum, we went up to Palatine Hill where the Roman Emperor's palace was. There were a lot of ruins here including some tunnels that we could walk through. We stood on the spot where the Emperor's throne was. We looked down the hill onto Circus Maximus where the chariot races were held. It was all pretty amazing to be seeing these places of ancient history!
We left Palatine Hill, passed through the forum once more, and climbed the stairs to Capitol Hill. On the way we stopped at Mamertine prison where Peter and Paul were held. They have a blocked off pillar where they claim Peter was chained to. Up the rest of the stairs to Capitol Hill, the square that was designed by Michelangelo. We sat there for a while to soak it in, then walked down the grand staircase also designed by Mike.
We were back in the busy city, but there was still one more site to see... the Pantheon. We walked for 10 or so minutes until we arrived at the back side of the Pantheon. We circled around to the front and backed up to see the giant entryway with the great stone pillars. We went inside and were amazed at the enormous dome way above us. This temple was built 2000 years ago and it still looks pristine on the inside. The dome has a 300 foot 'oculus' aka 'a hole' in the top to let in daylight (and the occasional rainstorm). We gaped at the dome for a while then wandered around before going outside to sit on the fountain steps outside.
We saw people eating gelato which made us want some! So, I looked up a recommended place in the tour book and we walked 2 or so blocks to it. We bought 2 medium sizes (you pay before you order it) and then we found out that medium gets you 3 flavors! I pulled out our Italian to English phrasebook and translated enough flavors until we knew what we wanted. Kara got chocolate, caramel, and cheesecake. I got chocolate, hazelnut, and pistachio. We both were very happy with our flavor concoctions! We slurped our gelato as we walked back to the Pantheon, then we sat back down at the stairs and just relaxed for a while.
When we were feeling ready to head back, we got up and walked through the Pantheon one more time. Then we walked to the main street and caught a bus back to Termini station. We settled into our room when we got back, then had dinner at the Italian restaurant downstairs. I got lasagna and it was REALLY good! Then we went back to our room where we hung out and got ready for bed.
