Today we saw the Colosseum. & the Forum, you know, where Zero Mostel went in the musical? And a bunch of other stuff.
But for those of you who read this for the food porn, wait till tomorrow-- dinner reservations aren't till 945 (Michael eating time) & I'm taking a pillow. The place serves food & is a block from the b&b & we couldn't get a res last night till 1130... Who does that?! I guess the revelers outside our b&b at 3 a.m.
So, to the Colosseum. If you didn't know (we were told in line like we should), admission is free on the first Sunday out the month. Good price. So, we weren't the only ones there. As in, the place held between 20,000 & 85,000 (we heard different numbers) & that many were in line at 11 a.m. They don't open till 10 & close at 330.
Standing in line gave us the opportunity to buy a selfie stick. Again & again. With the charming sales pitch of a single word, "selfie?" As good Americanos, we discussed the effectiveness of the technique & the dispersion of hawkers. Gee couldn't one of then sell a pope hat or something?
Yes, what's left of the place is impressive. Our tour guide, who didn't look Italian, but was named Arianna, repeated it took 9 years to build, they were worried about the emperor dying. It has four levels, representing the three types of architecture (Ionian, Doric & Corinthian, I think), which you can ten from the picture (???). More impressive is it has five internal circles, so there's for more layers like the one in the photo. It's a lot of fecking stone.
Sheldon fun fact: the Colosseum is not it's real name. It's really the Flavian Amphitheatre (& amphitheatre we were told means seats all around). But Nero, of fiddling fame (a linguistic story for another time) built a 35-meter gold statue of himself just outside (in imitation we were told of the colossus at Rhodes) & the place became nicknamed for it. Huh.
After an hour tour, where M&B, we learned that "arena" is sand in Latin (for the floor of the amphitheatre), etc, we were given an hour plus to explore, take pictures, have lunch...
But not find a toilet.
Ooh, yes, there was a sign for one on the second level (a mere heart-attack-inducing number of steps up from entry level), but it never appeared. Nope, not one on the grounds, or in the subway station-where we grabbed a quick sammy before relying our tour guide.
Our new guide was Michaela (sp?) Who is Swedish. & spoke better English than we do. Michaela was kind enough to point out the nearest toilet when we got inside the Forum gates. It was locked. You may have heard me give, I think, the same yell Sheldon does when Wesley Crusher beats him in the card game.
The Forum was the center (market, etc) of the ancient city. Many ruins, some nicely preserved because they were made churches. Funny how many Roman ruins have crosses on them.
This is a shot down the Forum. The arch in the center is Titus's, built by said emperor himself in congratulations for conquering Palestine & bringing its wealth back to Rome (more on arches later).
You've heard that Rome was built on seven hills? We climbed all seven today to find a flipping toilet! Okay, a massive exaggeration. But, you get the point. At the top, yes TOP, of Palatine hill, the center of ancient Rome as the founder of Rome, appropriately named Romulus (not for star trek purposes), there was finally a toilet- yes! ONE! & a line (it's what they seem to do here to kill time).
And the path was closing. 4 o'clock & the sun setting. We made our way a shorter, less steep route, to our bus stop. On the way we passed this:
This is the Constantine arch. Built to commemorate a victory over some now unknown ca.312. Yes, 312. No missing digit. It is the last structure built in ancient Rome-- you will all recall he moved the capitol to Byzantium and, OC, renamed it after himself. Lack of ego didn't seem to get you to be emperor.
We waited half an hour for our bus, a 75. For #51s came & went. No less than 3 81s. But, as you know, buses aren't interchangeable. Fun fact, no one actually checks your ticket on the Rome bus system. Just saying... There might be money in that.
We stopped at out now regular patisserie for afternoon nosh (that word for Allan & Ken) -- I had a ciavattori au chocolat. Enough to get me through the NFL & dinner (one specialty is pasta with lamb sauce).
Tomorrow we have reservations in Vatican City. I look forward to seeing Frank & maybe doing some fashion comparisons.
Sheldon fun fact: the Colosseum is not it's real name. It's really the Flavian Amphitheatre (& amphitheatre we were told means seats all around). But Nero, of fiddling fame (a linguistic story for another time) built a 35-meter gold statue of himself just outside (in imitation we were told of the colossus at Rhodes) & the place became nicknamed for it. Huh.
After an hour tour, where M&B, we learned that "arena" is sand in Latin (for the floor of the amphitheatre), etc, we were given an hour plus to explore, take pictures, have lunch...
But not find a toilet.
Ooh, yes, there was a sign for one on the second level (a mere heart-attack-inducing number of steps up from entry level), but it never appeared. Nope, not one on the grounds, or in the subway station-where we grabbed a quick sammy before relying our tour guide.
Our new guide was Michaela (sp?) Who is Swedish. & spoke better English than we do. Michaela was kind enough to point out the nearest toilet when we got inside the Forum gates. It was locked. You may have heard me give, I think, the same yell Sheldon does when Wesley Crusher beats him in the card game.
The Forum was the center (market, etc) of the ancient city. Many ruins, some nicely preserved because they were made churches. Funny how many Roman ruins have crosses on them.
You've heard that Rome was built on seven hills? We climbed all seven today to find a flipping toilet! Okay, a massive exaggeration. But, you get the point. At the top, yes TOP, of Palatine hill, the center of ancient Rome as the founder of Rome, appropriately named Romulus (not for star trek purposes), there was finally a toilet- yes! ONE! & a line (it's what they seem to do here to kill time).
And the path was closing. 4 o'clock & the sun setting. We made our way a shorter, less steep route, to our bus stop. On the way we passed this:
We waited half an hour for our bus, a 75. For #51s came & went. No less than 3 81s. But, as you know, buses aren't interchangeable. Fun fact, no one actually checks your ticket on the Rome bus system. Just saying... There might be money in that.
We stopped at out now regular patisserie for afternoon nosh (that word for Allan & Ken) -- I had a ciavattori au chocolat. Enough to get me through the NFL & dinner (one specialty is pasta with lamb sauce).
Tomorrow we have reservations in Vatican City. I look forward to seeing Frank & maybe doing some fashion comparisons.
No comments:
Post a Comment