Roma Day 2

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Tine throwing a coin at the Trevi Fountain

The Colosseum inside

Today we spent visiting Imperial Rome. We began with the Colosseum which was Herve's best part of the trip Mine was St Clement's church and the Pantheon (for Lauren it was St Peters and the gelato, for Christine it was the Trevi Fountain and the pizza).

We took the audio guide for the girls but they thought it was pretty dry and boring so we just wandered around and imagined the days of gladiators, hungry lions and the poor slaves, criminals and Christians who had to face both in these enormous grounds. Since Herve and I last visited Rome (we are talking 15 years here) they have used the tourist money they now collect (it used to be free to visit) and have started to re-create certain parts. Now, you can see part of what the central grounds would have been like as well as a section of the seating (before there was just sloping stone and cement and you used your imagination to visualize how the crowd were seated). I walked around thinking about Gladiator the movie (one of my favs) which helped.
After the Coloseum we walked past the Arch of Constantine (erected for yet another Roman victory) to the Forum. Lauren got interested in my retelling of the vestal virgins who attended to Vesta's temple (godess of the Hearath so quite popular at this time) . They were chosen between the ages of 6 and 10 and served for 30 years (first 10 learning their duties, next 10 keeping the Sacred Flame at the Temple of Vesta alight, last 10 training the new keepers of the Flame)They were beaten if the flame went out whilst on duty and expelled if they lost their virginity. (I didn't go into much into these details)
We walked around the enormous victorious Arches and temples to various Gods and Goddesses and pillars (Doric, Ionic and Corinthian, remember Ange?) and tried to imagine Julius Cesear strolling around (apparently he was Emperor for less than a year!).

From here we went off inj search of lunch...PIZZA!!! We found a fantastic place right beside the most amazing temple in Italy. I kept telling the girls wouldn't it be great if we could see what it was really like and not just ruins (I kept the Pantheon a secret) so they were extremely impressed when we took them up to the Pantheon and walked inside the perfectly intact 2000 year old temple to all Gods (originally built as a temple to the seven deities of the seven planets in the state religion of Ancient Rome). It is, I think, more impressive from the outside that from the inside, but the gaping hole in the ceiling is worth seeing.

We ate the best pizza of the trip at the little pizza joint (artichoke was my fav) Lauren had baked chicken and potatoes and veg and raved about how you could just come to Italy for the food...and this from someone who cannot eat pizza or pasta or garlic bread or pastries etc...! She did have her fair share of gelato: 4 in three days.

After this we strolled over with gelatos in hand to let the girls throw a few coins in the very Boroque (ie: over the top) Trevi Fountain: One for a quick return to Rome, two for a fling with and Italian and three to marry and Italian. I allowed them just the one considering their age. The buzz around the area was very exciting as all the tourists were laughing and the lovers were kissing: a very infectious mood. We bought some souvenirs and walked back to the apartment very tired and slept well (even though we still couldn't properly heat up the place)

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Photos

Coloseum reconstruction
This photo shows the newly reconstructed section of the Coloseum. You can see how they are putting in flooring and stone seating. I think it's fine as it helps to see what it was really like at the time but I hope they don't go overboard and reconstrut the whole thing, that would just be wrong.