Our European Holiday Day 2 - Ancient Rome

We absolutely loved Rome. Our first full day in the city was fantastic. We woke up early and headed into the city. We scheduled a tour with Walks of Italy that began outside the Colosseum at 8:15. The cab we took dropped us off right across the street from the Colosseum. It was breathtaking. We walked around the Colosseum for a few minutes taking pictures as the sun rose. I wish I could bottle that moment up - it was so magical. We grabbed a quick breakfast to go and found a place to eat it overlooking the Colosseum.

After we finished our breakfast we met up with our tour group. Our guide was a nice Italian lady. She marched us down to right outside the Colosseum and told us the history while we waited for them to open for the day. She explained how magnificent the Colosseum would have looked in its prime. She also told us that Colosseum is a nickname for the building, the actual name is Amphitheatrum Flavium. It was nicknamed the Colosseum because in ancient times there was a giant 30-foot statue of Nero in front of the amphitheater that was used to derive the name. Now the colossus statue is long gone, but the name stuck.

We went in a separate group entrance that allowed us to skip the already extremely long ticket and security lines. We found ourselves inside the Colosseum. Our guide told us to enjoy these first few moments because she said we would probably never see the Colosseum with this few people inside again. She was right by the end of our tour the place was full of people wanting to see this wonder of the world.

We toured both floors of the structure with our guide helping us to visualize what it would have looked like in ancient times. She debunked myths that are propagated about the Colosseum. For example, gladiators did not fight animals. They fought other people. Slaves would be used early in the day to hunt animals, before the gladiator fights. She also told us that most of the time the gladiators did not fight to the death. They would fight until one was near death, but there was a lot invested in each gladiator so they would usually be rehabilitated so they could fight again another day. The structure of the Colosseum was quite advanced. Today the metal, decorative coverings, and significant amounts of brick have been plundered, but when it was new this building was a marvel. It sat thousands of people and had a retractable roof, not unlike modern stadiums. Walking around inside the Colosseum was a real highlight of the day.

After the Colosseum, we headed toward Palatine hill. On our way, we passed the Constantine Arch, which is the largest triumphal arch in Rome. It celebrated a major victory by Constantine. It was only one of three triumphal arches that have survived.

Palatine hill was an incredible place. There are significant ancient ruins all around the hill. Emperors often chose this location (one of the most central of Rome's seven hills) to build their palaces. This hill also played a significant role in the mythical story of the founding of Rome. The brothers Romulus and Remus were alleged to have been found by a she-wolf in a cave on this hill. It was here that she kept them alive. Eventually, legend says Romulus founded Rome on this hill. We viewed many of the ruins throughout the hill and our guide told us about life in the palace of the emperors who lived there.

From Palatine hill, we walked down into an archeological park. Here we found other treasures from ancient Rome. One was the arch of Titus. This triumphal arch was built to celebrate Titus' victory in Jerusalem. On the arch, there is a depiction of step people carrying a candelabra into Rome. We also saw the remains of the Basilica of Maxentius. From the ruins, it was easy to see this was once a huge building, but now only a portion remains. The amount of history we saw in this area was astounding. From portions of original aqua-ducts to ancient temples that were converted to churches within this archeological park were many interesting remains from ancient Rome. We ended our tour at the first city square ever built in the city of Rome.

After our tour, Alison and I wandered back to spend some time looking at some areas we wanted to see. We sat in the shadow of the arch of Titus and the Colosseum for a while contemplating the impact this ancient society had on our world today. When we were done we made our way across the street to see the Imperial forum. There were more incredible ruins. Alison loved the columns in this area.

We were very hungry at this point so we found a place to get some pasta. It was delicious. Food in Rome has been very good and less expensive than we would have thought. When we finished our lunch we visited the Piazza Venezia and Vittorino. Our guide had told us this is a relatively new building built in the late 1800s to celebrate the first King of a unified Italy. She said most Roman people do not like the building because it cuts off the more modern area of Rome from the ancient city and blocks their views of the Colosseum. We walked around the building and thought it was quite fascinating. It made us think of the glory of Rome. I imagine the grandeur of this building must have been what the ruins once looked like. From the top of the building, we had incredible views of Rome.

Our next stop was Capitoline Hill. On this hill, they have built a museum that is comprised of both buildings. We decided to tour the museums. Alison was in heaven. She loved telling me about art (she reread an old art history from college to prepare for this trip). She would often tell me about a piece as we were walking up and then when we read the sign it would say some of the same things. She is a genius and she loves art. We saw many interesting pieces. Some of our favorites were Bernini's medusa and a famous (and very old) statue of the she-wolf of Rome.

We decided to go to the Pantheon next. We were not in a huge hurry so we wandered through Rome enjoying the beauty of the city. I loved this part of the city because we would walk through these beautiful alleyways surrounded by colorful buildings. This is exactly how I envisioned Rome. On our way, we saw a very beautiful church and decided to go in. Little did Alison know this church was a gem. It was the Contarelli Chapel, which houses two very famous paintings: The Calling of Saint Matthew and The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew by the Italian master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Alison was so excited when we saw these paintings. She told me all about the style Caravaggio used and they were so famous. I had to agree these were true masterpieces. It was a fortuitous stop. It is the kind of thing that happens if you walk into a random church in this city.

We did make it to Pantheon. We also ran into an elephant sculpted by Bernini on our way. The way we came caused us to approach the Pantheon from the back, which makes it look a little less impressive. When we made our way to the front it looked much more imposing. It was pretty crowded and we made our way inside. It is a marvelous building. We found some benches near the front of the room and we just sat and enjoyed the beauty of this building for a long time.

When we were finally ready we got up and headed over to the piazza Navona. This was such a cool place. It is a beautiful square with three fountains. It was a fun place to just hang out. There was street music. Inside the square, there is a church with the most beautiful dome. We walked in and were stunned by the beauty. We enjoyed walking around this square.

We began to make our way to our next destination and found dinner on the way. We stopped at a small restaurant in an alleyway. It was wonderful. The food and atmosphere could not be beaten.

After dinner, we made our way to the trevi fountain. It looks even better during the day than at night. We found a spot near the fountain and Alison tossed a coin in over her shoulder. We also resisted the Spanish steps. We sat on the steps and watched the sunset over the city. It was magical. We wished we could stay here forever.

It was truly the perfect day in Rome.