I don't see it first though, Richard does. My "leather jacket=whole cow" hubs. In the grand tradition of southerners or burgermeisters, take your pick, he most closely resembles either Ben Franklin or the latter King Ludwig. Or a late Elvis. Take your pick again.
He finishes up with no protest whatsoever and I slip past him to go in the bathroom to shower. And I rub the shower door on the way in. Before turning the water on, I'm alarmed. I go back in the room and ask Richard how the hell he got in there?? I'm thinking about those mice that can somehow squeeze into microscopic holes as long as their skull fits, but this is a human, not a mouse. Richard then lifts his shirt to show me the plate sized RUBBED spot from squeezing into the shower. Unbelievable. This relates again to our earlier visit and interior spaces in Europe generally being smaller. We had joked in London that he could clean the shower just by turning around, but this one was the smallest yet.
Suitably clean, rubbed, and raring to go we then head to the nearest Metro station. We are looking for a Roma Pass that will allow metro entry as well as discounted or free entrance to attractions. And the nice lady has them there in a market at the train station. Our phones had begun to run really slow and some messages kept coming in from TIM in Italian, so we asked her help in reading them and Richard was able to recharge his phone, thinking that would speed up the data speeds. We ended up being wrong about that. We recharged but got no quicker speeds at all until our third day when we got Richard's phone on a different plan.
The metro was amazing. It was filled with Italians and tourists, it was on time and efficient. But the magic was that there were live musicians! I couldn't stop smiling, they were playing while we were all hanging on to avoid falling, then they sent one of the musicians to go collect coins. We paid handsomely. The first three times we rode the metro. Then we quit paying them. I am still trying to figure out when it stopped being magical and started being "normal". If I go back I will make a conscious effort to keep it being magical instead of mundane.
First stop, the Colosseum! These are ancient ruins! The images are instantly recognizable to anyone who ever had a history lesson. And it was amazing to see them in person.
From Wikipedia, which I now must sponsor with some cash as I keep quoting them:
"Capable of seating 50,000 spectators,[5][6] the Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology. The building ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era. It was later reused for such purposes as housing, workshops, quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a quarry, and a Christian shrine.
Although in the 21st century it stays partially ruined because of damage caused by devastating earthquakes and stone-robbers, the Colosseum is an iconic symbol of Imperial Rome. It is one of Rome's most popular tourist attractions and still has close connections with the Roman Catholic Church, as each Good Friday the Pope leads a torchlit "Way of the Cross" procession that starts in the area around the Colosseum.[7"
The thing is massive. Originally topping out at three stories, then a fourth was added. It's huge. The ticketing was done with pottery shards. Incredible attention to detail. It was built after Rome's leaders took the land back after Nero was gone and built the thing to return the land to the people of Rome. Nero had taken it and built a private sanctuary including a lake after fire had devastated central Rome. Christian martyrs were not executed at this site, but at another nearby, and it is not considered a sacred site. What was fascinating in reading more about it was that at one point it was converted to housing! Shops! It was used like that throughout the middle ages. There is no mortar, the stones were set and held in place with bronze clamps.
We moved on to tour the other archeological sites in the area, which were numerous and walked non stop for the entire day. May I plug "The Walking Store" now? Both Richard and I bought new shoes and inserts just before leaving and it was the best thing we did for ourselves on that entire trip. We wore them for a week before leaving for Europe. The feet were quiet as a mouse on the entire trip, but this day was their biggest workout. We ended up clocking out at over six miles that day. Just for fun I had activated my pedometer app on the iPhone at some point during the day and we had already walked a couple of miles when I kicked it on.
Next stop was The Forum. We ended up choosing a path up instead of a path down and boy was that the right choice from that point. We got a gorgeous panoramic view with both the Collosseum and The Forum! Beautiful and once again the size and scope of these ancient engineering projects just astonished me. I work now with civil engineers who do infrastructure engineering so I completely geeked out on that aspect of these works.
Being on the same steps that the Senators stood on was just really awe inspiring. Especially given our current election at the time! We had mailed in our ballots before leaving and were nail biting the results from Stefan's apartment in Zurich. The irony was inescapable and it was difficult for me to escape the similarities in pathways. When you look at the downfall of Rome, the finger gets pointed in numerous directions. However, I like the theory that it merely transformed and that the Germanic rulers actually kept much of the Roman traditions as they approached the era known as "The Middle Ages".
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