Roma - All things to many...not so much for some...
Posted on 30 June 2011
[Check out more photos of Rome at The Travel Room's Rome Travel Photos page here]
Views of the Forum - Rome, Italy
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Today was just one of those days that makes life joyous. We headed into Rome with a specific goal in mind. It had been a decade since we had last been in the Colosseum and being a Monday with the threat of thunderstorms in the afternoon we were hoping the queues of Sunday would have disappeared and normality, or a least high season Rome normality would have been restored. Well after a disappointing start where we stood in the ticket queue to the Colosseum and it didn't move for 20 minutes, Dani came up with the great idea to head to the Forum, which was free for many years to enter (it was part of my daily ritual when I spent a month here to wander down and both people watch and soak up the atmosphere of what ancient Rome was like, believe me it was an enjoyable start to any day) and see if it had been bypassed by the hoards, well our luck was in and parting with €12 each we had a ticket to the Forum, Palatine Hill and the Colosseum, job done. There are two little tips to remember, avoid weekends and buy your tickets at the Forum entrance.
I love being able to wander in the footsteps of the emperors and in these places that is exactly what you get to do, I grin like a small child in a chocolate factory whenever I am here, and today was no different. If you have the slightest interest in Roman history, what better place could you start. It is exhausting to try and see it all and when you have done 4 loops of the Colosseum it soon becomes apparent that you are a little enamoured with
The day was finally ended with a small Roman feast of bruscetta, pizza, tortino morbido al chocolatto (death by chocolate) all washed down with a lovely light merlot and coming to the princely sum of €40! Cheap by Rome standards, but a day such as this deserved to be finished in style, and to us that was absolutely styled to perfection.
your surroundings, something that Dani has grown to accept. Though you still get people who don't quite share your delight and my two favourites today were, “do we have to walk all the way around the Colosseum?” in the tone of “what a chore that will be” and the second was a young woman peering into a glass case holding the remains of a 2000 year old Roman Mosaic, who then turns to her boyfriend behind her and says “don't bother its just some stuff they found in the ground”. Our only hope for the gene pool is that they don't decide to breed.
A quick metro ride to the Vatican and we watch the sun start to set on St Peters Basilica, too late to enter, but never too late to enjoy the architectural splendour.
Right: Testiment to Pope John Paul II's beautification - Vatican City
Below: St Peter's Basilica as the sun sets - Vatican City