The Last Stop....All Roads Lead to Rome in the End

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Day 32- Day 33 Roma

Other than having to change hotels a few times (but they have all been in the same block), our first two days in Rome have been wonderful...the weather continues to be sunny and mild, getting cool at night...

We spent Saturday fist "doing" the Roman sights...the Colosseum, the forums, and a great information center on the area, with some new digs right nearby...we finished the day on the top of the Victorio Emmanuelle monument, watching the sun set over Rome...

On Sunday, we took the subway to St Peter's and then walked to for the rest of the day, visiting sights along the way and ending up back at our hotel around 5:00 pm....My favorites today were the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain....

Rome seems like another country...so many tourists and so much intensity here! I can't imagine high season here...there are crowds everywhere now in the middle of November. We are getting used to seeing dozens of people at the hotel breakfasts...we've often been the only ones at other places on this trip. The layers of history are even more apparent here....buildings built on top of older ones...temples to churches...pillaging of old buildings to make new...or just bulldozing them in some cases...

We have given up on restaurants....haven't had the good food we expected (and paying $12 for a plate of just OK pasta is getting tiresome)...but we have found a good pizza place place nearby....

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Photos

Detail ceiling, Maria Maggiore
This was gilt with the first gold brought back form the New World...

Remains of Nero's home, the DomusAurea
The whole front was gold plated...really! And the inside was mother of pearl...After he died, have been greatly hated by all, most of his things were torn down, filled in, or repurposed. The Colosseum was orginally a man-made lake, for example.

New excavations
This was part of the Temple of Peace...they are piecing together the marble floors...

Tragen's Column
This dates from 200 AD...the original statue was lost.

Detail of the column
This column commemorates a victory over what is now Romania...

Nero's Water Tank
This once held over 8 million liters of water! It is now in the middle of a park that is full of homeless men...

Oh, no...tourists on segways!
In the background is another new dig, discovered when recently constructing a new subway exit...the remains will become part of the station.

On the top!
We paid for the elevator trip up..Bill actually got a senior discount here...usually you have to be a EU citizen. By the way, our elevator operator, a short, plump man of a certain age is looking for an American girlfriend...ladies?

Ad at St Peter's Square
Hard to believe, since the Vatican is richer than, say, God, they have to put up huge ads on the renovations...

Feet of St Peter statue, worn from being kissed
It was blocked off today, so we did not witness this rite....

The canopy in St Peter's
This is beautiful, but unfortunately it was made from melting down the bronze roof of the Pantheon...!