Visiting Rome with dad

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June 20th 2008

Published: June 20th 2008

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EmmaAndJeanClaude

Sitting on a big foot

Nice foot. But where is the statue?

Christmas and New Year with dad in Rome

Over Christmas and New Year we went with dad to Rome in Italy. We had a lot of fun there and we would like to write a little about that. Hope you feel like reading about it.

OK, we admit this journey wasn't quite up to our usual standard. It feels a bit embarrassing to have to admit that we, two travel loving and adventure craving toys, only went to Italy this vacation. But that is all dad's fault. He doesn't seem to like to go to the wild and exciting places we want to visit. We gave dad many suggestions on where we wanted to go. We asked him several times if we could perhaps visit Azerbaijan, Enewetak Atoll, Swaziland or maybe Tatooine. Dad just shook his head and said "Sorry sweethearts. Not this year." Well, we guess the days of us going with dad to faraway and exotic places are over. We'd better get used to going to safe and dull places like Rome and Paris in the next couple of years. But as soon we grow old enough to travel on our own we will go to Tatooine.

Famous statue

Dad told us this is a famous statue. We asked the statue and she said it's true but added that she can't understand why. She's just sitting there collecting dust.

But safe and dull places have their charm too. Rome may not be very exotic but two toys can have fun there anyway.

On the first day in Rome dad took us to a museum. It was raining that day and then it is actually quite nice to walk around in a museum. Museums are quiet and dusty, true, but they are also dry and warm. In this museum we found a lot of strange things. First we saw a funny statue, or rather just a big foot. Not to be confused with Bigfoot though. This was just a big foot. We asked dad why on earth they made a statue of a foot. He explained that the foot had once belonged to a big statue but that the rest of the statue was not here right now. But that explanation sounds strange to us. We can't understand how anyone could misplace parts of a statue. A statue comes in one piece and then you must misplace either all of it or none of it. You can't misplace the legs, torso, arms and head but still have the one foot. There has got to be another explanation. But we

Comforting the statue

The statue was lonely so we decided to keep her company for a while. We felt sorry for her. We told her that she can come with us when we travel the World. She said the museum owners won't like that.

didn't have time to figure that one out. There were other things in the museum we wanted to discover.

In one room we found a statue of a wolf feeding two human babies. Dad told us that this is a very famous statue showing Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome. Dad told us the statue is a symbol of the city of Rome. The statue might be a symbol of an entire city but still she was sad and miserable. She was sitting there in a hall of her own feeling lonely. She had no other statues to talk to and could not even leave the house for a bit of fresh air. We felt so sorry for her that we stayed there for a while to cheer her up.

Emma: "And in the museum Jean-Claude also found a picture of a naked woman. I could hardly believe it when I saw it. A museum is supposed to be a place for fine art and culture. But here they have a picture from Playboy in a frame on the wall. Unbelievable! No shocking is a more proper word!"

Jean-Claude: "I thought it was a nice painting. But then I only

Don't look Jean-Claude

Jean-Claude: "Nice painting. Good art they have in this museum" Emma: "Don't look Jean-Claude! That's dirty. It's porn!"

saw it for about two milliseconds before you covered my eyes so I couldn't really tell..."

After the museum we went to a place called Roman Forum. Dad says that a long time ago it used to be a city centre. It must have been a very long time ago because it looks nothing like other city centres we've been to. And we have been to quite a few city centres by now so we ought to know. Since the Roman Forum looked like no city centre we have ever seen before we think dad might be wrong there. We think that maybe it wasn't a city centre at all. Maybe the roman Forum used to be a quarry. Because that is more what it looks like.

We told dad about our theories about what the Roman Forum really used to be and dad said that we are actually partly right. First the Roman Forum was a city centre but later, after it was abandoned, the building material to all the houses was removed, or quarried, and used for other buildings in Rome.

We found something in the Roman Forum that caught our interest. It was a triumphal arch.

This was built by Severus

This triumphal arch was built by Septimius Severus. He must be a close relative of Severus Snape. Maybe Snape even helped him build it.

We have seen triumphal arches before, you might even say that we are becoming a bit of experts on triumphal arches. But this one was a bit special. You see this triumphal arch was built by Septimius Severus. We are pretty sure that he is related to Severus Snape one way or the other but so far we haven't managed to figure out how.

Later the same day dad took us to a museum where we could see a statue of Septimius Severus. He even looks like Severus Snape so there is little doubt that they are related.

Not far from the Roman Forum is a very nice building that we actually recognised. It was the Colosseum. We have seen it in one of our favourite movies, Gladiator. The Colosseum didn't quite look the same as we remembered it from the movie. But the sight of this impressive arena prompted us to act out a scene from the movie.

If you want to see the actual scene you could try this link. It worked for us when we tried it. If it doesn't work try this link instead. Youtube will give you a choice of videos and one or more

Statue of Septimius Severus

We found this statue of Septimius Severus. He does look like Severus Snape, doesn't he?

of them should work.

We can in short retell what leads up to the scene so you get the idea.

The long version (you can skip this if you want):
The old emperor has been murdered by his son because the son wants to be sure to inherit the throne. Only one person, a military commander, knows about the crime. The new emperor, the murderer, has ordered the commander and his family to be killed. The family died but, unknowingly to the emperor, the commander survived. The commander fled to Africa and made his "living" as a slave and a gladiator. The commander has now for the first time in many years returned to Rome to fight a gladiator battle in the Colosseum. In the audience sits the emperor. However, the emperor has no idea that the famed gladiator who just, against all odds, won the fight actually is the commander because the commander has managed to obtain a helmet which covers his face. When start our show just when the commander is standing face to face (or rather face to helmet) with emperor and the emperor asks the gladiator to reveal his face and say his name.

Colosseum

We found a ruin i Rome we recognised. It was the Colosseum. We saw it in the movie Gladiator. It looked a bit different from the movie but still recognisable.

The short version:
We are the heroes and the big fat guy is evil.

Now you can take a look at the photos and follow our acting performance. We were splendid. However, the actor playing the other role couldn't really follow the script.

On another day in Rome dad took us to Ponte Milvio. It is a bridge where people go and hang padlocks with their names on. Dad had not told us about this bridge before so this hanging padlock thing came as a big surprise for us. We bought a small padlock right there and then and hung it among all the other padlocks. But if we had known about it we would have been a bit prepared. We are already now planning for our next visit to Rome. You bet that we are going to have a specially prepared padlock with us then. We are going to bring the mother of all padlocks! The key alone is going to weight 4 kilos. When we showed the blueprint for this specially made padlock to dad he said that we had misunderstood the point with the whole thing. He said "The padlocks are a sign for

Colosseum - interior

The interior of Colosseum is not quite the same as it used to be. But the sight of the Colosseum still triggered us to act a scene from Gladiator

love". Love!!?? What crap! The point is not love. The point is the one with the biggest padlock wins! Next time we visit Rome we are going to bring the biggest padlock ever made!

On another day we went with dad to Fontana di Trevi. It is a very famous fountain in central Rome. It is a tradition that when you visit Rome you should throw in a coin in Fontana di Trevi. Dad is not much for these kind of traditions but we are. Dad was kind enough to give us a nice shiny coin that we could throw in. We think it was a very valuable coin. We are familiar with Euro coins and but this was something else. It was made of gold and it was written 500L on it. 1 € is a lot of money and 500L sounds like a small fortune. We tossed the coin in the fountain and another tourist took a photo of us when we did that.

One day when we were wondering around the streets of Rome we found something unusual - a statue of a Jedi knight! We have been travelling to many countries in the World,

Acting out a scene from Gladiator

The Big One: "What are your names? Because you have names, don't you?"" E+JC: "Our names are Gladiator" TBO: "You will remove your helmet and tell me your names."

but this is the first time we have even seen a statue of any character from Star Wars. It is strange that there aren't more such statues around though. We think every city should have a statue of Obi Wan Kenobi and two of Yoda. Instead there are these silly statues of kings and nobilities and other boring people.

When we were in Rome we did not only go to one country but two. We went to Italy of course since Rome is in Italy. But we also went to the country Vatican State. Now it is going to get a bit complicated. The Vatican is in Rome. Cities are usually in countries but in Rome it is the other way around. If you don't understand how that works don't worry. We don't get it either.

We saw a lot of fun things in the Vatican. We saw St Peter's Church. It is one of the biggest churches we have ever seen. We took a photo of the columns in front of the church just to get you an idea of how big it is. We also went to the Vatican Museum but we don't have any photos

Acting out a scene from Gladiator

E+JC: "Our names are Maximus Emma & Jean-Claude. Son and daughter of a murdered father and we will have our vengeance, in this life or the next" Tbo: "Oh no! Maximus Emma & Jean-Claude. I am doomed!"

from there. The truth is a bit embarrassing - we fell asleep. The museum was so big and so dusty and we had been up all night playing Texas hold 'em with a few Americans at the hostel.

Yes, now you know it. We stayed in a youth hostel on this trip. Or rather dad stayed in a youth hostel and we had no choice but to stay there too. Dad is almost 40 years old and stays in youth hostels. It is time he starts to act his age! This time we even suggested a real hotel we could stay at - Hotel California. We have even heard a song about that hotel. But dad just shook his head and said: "We might stay at hotels at another time but not now and never the 'Hotel California' they sing about in the song. Read the lyrics and you'll understand". The lyrics goes "Welcome to the Hotel California. Such a lovely place...". It sounds great to us. What does dad mean?

One day dad took us to a town called Tivoli. There is an amusement park in Copenhagen called Tivoli. First we thought dad was taking us there. That would

He is not following the script

E:"Eeeeeeeeeee!!!!!! He is bigger than us!" J-C:"Hey, this is not in the script! E: "Help us dad! Help us quick!"

have been fun. We like amusement parks. But instead he took us to a town called Tivoli. There we went to see a park filled with fountains. Once again we noticed that while water isn't very nice, vertical water can be nice. We noticed that when we were in Venezuela and it seems to be true here in Italy too.

We did see a few more things when we were in Rome but this was the most important. We hope you enjoyed reading about it.

Additional photos below

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