Broam K's Italian Saga: Day VII (Pt. I - Rome)

Cloudy morning in Rome. . .

My roommate for the week was an old man named Bill - one of the chaperones from the St. Louis group.  Apparently he had to have his gall bladder removed while he was vacationing in Germany the week before he was to meet up with our group, and throughout our trip in Italy the pain from the surgery was bothering him.  Finally, he arranged to fly back home and leave our tour prematurely, and he left for the airport at 5am.

I couldn't fall back to sleep after her left, so I said 'screw it' and just got up. . . about an hour before our wake-up call.

What frickin' purpose does this serve?

After taking my sweet-ass time getting ready (now that I had my own room I didn't have to rush), I grabbed my shoulder pack and headed out into the hallways. . . where I stopped abruptly.

There, lying on the ground in front of our door, was Bill's camera.

No one else was awake yet, so I went out on the veranda and had one of those chocolate cigarillos I bought in Venice.  Afterwards I came inside and gave Bill's camera to his daughter, who also happens to be a chaperone on this trip.

Fountain in front of the L'Ottava Hotel

Breakfast was the same ol', same ol'. . . but this time I made sure I packed a few extra rolls and crackers into my pack to save for later (Rome was going to be an exhausting day).  By 7:30am, we were loaded up onto the bus, and - for the fifth straight day in a row, I grabbed 'my seat.'

Booya.

The trip into the city was awesome - everywhere in Rome, as we came down from the surrounding hills, you saw modern billboards and stores contrasting starkly with imposing Roman ruins.  We even passed several walls and aqueducts on our way to our first stop of the day:  the Colosseum.

Unfortunately, yet again, it was raining, but only a sporadic drizzle (not like the sideways pelt-fest we had found in Venice, or the steady shower we had the second day in Florence).  We were all pretty bummed about seeing Rome in the rain, but were optimistic it wouldn't last all day.  The bus dropped us off directly in front of the Colosseum, and as we approached the imperial gladiatorial arena we walked right in front of the Arch of Constantine. . . so within minutes of leaving the bus we were already knee-deep in picture-taking in the rain.

The Arch of Constantine

Both structures, first of all, are breathtaking.  Yet no building in Rome compares to the Colosseum.  The size of a modern-day football stadium and a true marvel in engineering, the Colosseum was the most advanced building in the world for over a thousand years (I highly suggest  you research it.)

We had to wait outside the structure for awhile so that Rebecca could get our tickets and meet up with our Roman tour guide, during which time most of us took pictures of the two previously-described Roman ruins as well a some horse-and carriages that stood waiting nearby.

I don't envy these horses.

The smell of horse shit was very nostalgic.

Eventually our tour guide showed up - a small, soft-spoken Italian woman in her 60s, who was difficult to hear, let alone understand.

Underneath the stands. . .

Not that it really mattered to me in the slightest - my Whispernet had a dead battery, so, not wanting to look rude, I kept my EF earpiece in throughout the tour, but instead plugged it into my iPod and jammed out to The Clash.

Punk rock Colosseum time, baby.

Honestly, I didn't really need a tour guide to take me through the Colosseum anyway - odds are I knew more about the structure than she did.  I teach Roman history for a living, for Christ's sake - and I've studied it in my free time for years.  It's a passion of mine.

Anyway, the little woman's pace through the greatest structure of Rome was absolutely maddening.  Sometimes she'd stop somewhere boring for nearly ten minutes, in the rain, while other time she'd barrel through some place awesome without pausing so people could snag a couple pictures.

As such, and since I didn't have my Whispernet anyway, I decided - once again - to venture off on my own.  And, in doing so, I got some awesome pictures:

Two thousand years ago, these people would've been walking underneath stadium seating.

After an earthquake toppled a third of the Colosseum in the middle ages, for the next few centuries Italian citizens throughout the city used stones and blocks from the arena to construct their own buildings.  Some stones were left alone, though - like the fallen columns shown here - and remain today.

Listening to the tour guide, protected by the rain by an entryway into the lower stadium seating.

See those tourists on the viewing platform?  That's ground level (on the side of the Colosseum that lost its upper floors during the earthquake) - the area to the left that looks like a maze is actually the basement.

No climbing on the ruins, asshole.

As Christianity was adopted as the official religion of the Empire, Romans ceased using the Colosseum as a stadium for executions and gladiatorial exhibitions.  Eventually, it became a holy site, remembered for the countless Christian martyrs who died at hands of Roman executioners, gladiators, or wild animals.

Headed up to the upper floors (the ones that are still standing, that is)

Check out the replicated floor of the arena, bottom left.  That's where a shit-load of people got killed over a two-hundred year period.

You can see the damage the earthquake caused to the upper walls at left - nearly half of it was knocked down.

Our tour guide - in the red blazer at center - breezed through the majority of this.

Pretty pissed off at the Rain God today.

Looking out from one of the Colosseum's archways

Still raining. . .

Across the street from the Colosseum - the Temple of Venus and Roma.

The Arch of Constantine (again), and more Roman ruins

. . . and even MORE ruins.

Examples of various columns and pillars that have fallen down over the last two thousands years. . .

(I can't read this.)

(. . . or this)

The labyrinth-looking basement level was connected to the arena ground-level floor by a series of elevators and trap doors that could be used during fights and exhibitions to transport wild animals - like tigers, lions, and bears - or additional fighters, for dramatic effect.

Wrapping up the Colosseum tour

Oh yeah, and rocks.  I stole a few rocks from the Colosseum.  Illegal, perhaps, but not many folks can say they have stones taken from the frickin' Colosseum.

After about an hour and a half or so (maybe more, I don't know - it sure as hell felt like 5 minutes), we left the Colosseum (the Roman 'Thunderdome,' if you will) and hiked a few blocks over to the heart of Ancient Rome:  the Roman Forum.

Exterior of the Colosseum, on our way out. . .

Praetorian Guard. . .?

Headed away from the Colosseum to the Roman Forum

Much of the Roman streets still remain today.  This level was the foundation-level of Roman road construction.  Above this level of flat, large stones would've been a couple layers of cement/gravel mixtures to assist with draining, then sanded, flat stones to go on top of them.

Kingdom of Rome, ca. 700 BC (around the time they were a small city-state, being ruled by the Etruscans)

The Roman Republic, ca. 150 BC (following the Third Punic War, when they destroyed Carthage and seized all its land) 

The Roman Republic, ca. 44 BC (at the time of Julius Caesar's death, when he had conquered Egypt and Gaul)

The Roman Empire, ca. 200 AD (Rome at its height, under Emperor Trajan)

Headed towards (what's left of) the Roman Forum

Senatus Populusque Romanus - The Senate and People of Rome

Foodies rejoice:  Italians love food trucks, too.

The Roman Forum (note the bizarre way the Italians have chosen to display the pillars and columns that have fallen down)

The Roman Forum, at its height

I didn't expect much from the Forum - a few crumbling pillars, etc. - but I was pleasantly surprised by how enormous it was.  Much more of Rome's center still stands than I had thought possible, seeing how the city was repeatedly sacked and burned during the fifth century AD (by Vandals, then Goths).  The invasions destroyed much of Rome, and earthquakes and wars throughout the next 1500 years didn't help much to preserve the ancient city.  Fortunately, many of the temples and pillars found in the Forum still stand.

Consequently, my camera was glued to my face:

This place used to a look a hell of a lot awesomer, so I'm told. . .

I'm pretty sure its safe to bet that this apparent fire damage was caused during the sacking of Rome, at the hands of the Vandals.  Hence the term 'Vandalism.'

I shall assume this is a pain in the ass to mow.

Temple of Vesta

Temple of Saturn

Birds seem to be pretty big fans of the Forum.  Not sure why, exactly.

The Temple of Antoninus Pius and Faustina

Gross.

In a broad stroke of good fortune, the rain let up and the clouds lightened.  The only downside was that the ground of the Forum - cobblestone dating back to the fourth century BC - was collecting pools of muddy water, so as I walked my shoes splattered mud up the back of my jeans.

That got old fast.

Inside the Temple of Caesar - site of Caesar's funeral pyre. . .

I ventured off, keeping my group and our horrible tour guide always in view, so that I could take a few hundred pictures and steal some more stones from the crumbling stones of the Forum floor.  Eventually, after another hour of checking out Julius Caesar's pyre alter, the columns of temples, pillars to long-dead emperors, and other such relics of antiquity, our group left the Forum and began to make the long trek back to the bus.

This is what I had to travel with.  You can imagine how much fun that was.

Arch of Septimius Severus

The Forum, from underneath the Arch of Septimius Severus

These arches were commissioned by emperors in order highlight their achievements during their reign.  If you look carefully at the carvings throughout this arch, you can see what I mean.  Roman emperors were big on honoring and deifying themselves.

Warning signs are so much more animated over here in Italy. . .

I don't know what building this is, but these tourists are frickin' nutjobs. . .

Plebeians still beg in the Roman Forum, as they have for twenty-five hundred years. . .

Walking towards the Capitoline Hill. . .

(I didn't catch the names of these churches, either - you can't throw a stone without hitting some church or temple around here. . .)

Our group trudged our way through the streets of Rome until we came upon the Altare della Patria - the gigantor monument to Victor Emmanuel II, who was the first king to unify all of Italy.  It's a huge, impressive structure that's about the size of a frickin' castle, sitting right between the ancient Capitoline Hill and Piazza Venezia, not far from the Colosseum.

I didn't realize it at the time, but apparently most Italians - especially Roman Italians - despise the building, since much of the white marble used to build the structure was taken from a medieval neighborhood nearby, and many Roman ruins were bulldozed around the Capitoline to make room for the monument.  Ethics aside, its a shiny, white beacon in the middle of an ancient part of the city - it stands out like a jaw-dropping sore thumb.

. . . it's no wonder the Italians grudgingly refer to the monument as 'the Wedding Cake.'

The Altare della Patria

I guess the Ancient Romans hadn't invented boxers yet. . .

After walking around the front of King Victor Emmanuel's monument, we boarded the bus once again and drove across the city to the walls of Vatican City. . .

Headed back towards Andrea and his Brut-smelling bus. 

The Mausoleum of Emperor Hadrian, on the left, as we cross the Tiber River.  I really wanted to see this in person, but its kinda hard to see Rome in one day.  Maybe next time.

The walls that surround Vatican City

 Rebecca disbanded our tour group for a short lunch (she gave us about a half an hour) before we had to meet her back under the walls for our next guided tour: the Vatican.

The Orlando Nine power-walked towards a nearby ristorante - a pizzeria - and blindsided the servers with American-style rushed-meals-on-the-go requests.  They seemed a little annoyed with us, but gave us a good table by the windows and provided us with decent service.

Slainté

I bought a new kind of Italian beer called 'Cerra.'  It was labeled a Strong Ale (7.7% abv) and cost five euros for a small. . . I'm assuming because of the higher quality and higher alcohol content.

Pretty decent lunch, if I must say so myself.

Pizza time with the Orlando Nine

Back to the f***in' bus

I attempted to speak Italian to our water and tried, ultimately in vain, to request the receipt for my beer.  Totally bombed not only the sentence (which was horrifically butchered), but also the context - I hadn't even paid yet, and so obviously the poor waiter was really confused.

Vatican-issued headsets!

After lunch, we scuttled back to the bus and, after clogging up the sidewalks for awhile (probably twenty minutes, while multiple other EF groups from God knows where stood about nearby), we met up with our new tour guide.  She presented us our new, flashy Vatican-issued audioguides (sorry, Whispernet), and we strolled over to the gates of the wall that surrounded Vatican City.

Vatican crests adorn the walls surrounding his Holy Popeness

I asked about Fast Passes into Vatican City.  Our British tour guide didn't get the reference. 

(to be continued)

- Brian