Tuesday June 2 in Rome

Tuesday and we are still in Rome. Up early this morning and down to breakfast. We called a taxi around 8:15 and headed for the Colosseum. As we said there are a lot of people in town and the traffic is bad. If you need to get your heart rate up, but do not want to exercise, take a cab ride in Rome. All I can say is OMG.
 We were among the first people in the Colosseum this morning and it was breath taking to see. How they could build something like this and have it last all these years is amazing. There were seats for the Senators of marble and the rest of the peons sat on rough stone. The closer and lower you were toward the stage the more prestige you had. It was begun in 72 AD and finished in 80 AD. It is estimated to have held 80,000 people. It was the origin of professional gladiators, who were trained to fight to the death. You can see where the gladiators and animals were prepared below the level of the arena. They had lifts to bring them up to the field from the rooms below. It must have been an amazing site in its day, for it is still amazing today.

Leaving the Colusseum we walked to the Arch of Constantine. It was built in the memory of Constantine’s victory over Maxentius. It is very well preserved and has an inscription on it that says “Devine inspiration”. It was chosen to pacify both the Pagans and the Christians.
 From there we got back on the hop on hop off buss to Piazza Navona. It is one of the largest squares in Rome and the location of the fountain of the 4 rivers. We believe that this is the fountain that was portrayed in the movie “Angels and Demons”. The area is very lively with music, restaurants, street performers and artists. We walked the area and then had lunch at a little outdoor café on the plaza. The lasagna I had was the best I have ever had. Judi again had caprice salad. After lunch we walked to the Pantheon. It is the cities only architecturally intact monument from classical times. It is called the “glory of Rome”.

Pantheon

We then walked back to the Piazza Navona and treated ourselves to a gelato. Sitting on a bench and enjoying the gelato and people watching, a Belgium gentleman stuck up a conversation about traveling. Very nice person and very good English. After a little shopping we got a taxi back to the hotel.


Arriving back at the hotel around happy hour, we indulged ourselves.


We are moving to the Hilton Hotel at the airport tomorrow in preparation to fly home on Thursday. Tomorrow is a National Military holiday with many celebrations, parades and a public mass by the Pope in St. Peters square, which is going to turn Rome into a parking lot. Trying to get to any site will be almost impossible.

Emperor Hadrian's Mausoleum---The Colosseum