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Published: April 19th 2008
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Alrighty, on the Contiki home stretch now...God, can you imagine what this is going to look like by the end of the year? Jeepers!
So after a nive perve at the super hot waiter at breakfast, who, as it happened said hello to me, although Bob assures me this is simply to be polite and not because he clearly thinks I am a sexy godess...more's the pity, we were off to the Colleseum (which I will insist on spelling wrong so get over it already). On the way to the Metro, while my brain was still waking up, I was amused to see cars parked all over the place and in one case blocked in by a large skip bin. The only saving grace for these bins is that they are operated by a foot pedal so you don't actually have to try and lift the cover. Anyway, I'm sure you are glad you now know that - told you I was still asleep...
Anyway, taking the Metro to Termini and then changing to arrive at the Collesuam for our Imperial Tour, one of the optional extras offered as part of the tour. Now despite doing this before, I
figure, when in Rome (sorry, had to use that line...) plus, it is damn difficult to remember all the interesting points of history and ruins, so I was most definitely in for this extra. Lucky for us, we also got free entry to the Colleseum itself, which, I will guiltily admit, I didn't visit previously. Apparently the week after Easter is Culture Week and so all the public museums in Rome are free for the week - not the Vatican City though.
Now the Colleseum itself is, collosal. This structure, which is only wholy intact on one side, is immense and while the stage area and the seating have long rotted away, you really can see what it would have been like to come here and be "entertained" - sorry, I have some opinions about the 'sport' that was carried out here, but nevertheless...this is one amazing structure. Funnily enough, seeing all these fabulous sights reminds me of the books that I like to read that draw on all this amazing cultural and architecural history. I think sometimes people forget that a lot of what we read or watch etc has it's roots somewhere in history.
During the
Team Duomo
I think we could be gladiators, don't you? demise of the Roman empire, when people were actually moving away from Rome due to plagues, war and conquest the role of the Colleseum declined. In fact, during the building of St Peter's Basillica, the marble used was taken from the facade of this magnificant structure. That is why you can see all these massive holes in the remaining stonework. These holes are also the result of people digging out the massive and very precious metal pins that held together much of the building.
From here we walked across to the Forum, seeing the place where Caeser was cremated, and learning how the Roman temples and halls were turned into Christian churches if at all possible, otherwise these temples were destroyed. This is why so many of the old buildings remain standing and in such good condition becasue they were reconsecrated by the new religion. This is also why you can see crosses haphazardly attached to the top of Oblisques that are dotted around the place.
Apparently many of the statues that you see around the place also used to be painted and colourful. So while we tend to think of the past as belonging to these creamy
marble statues, this is not actually the case. There were also a lot of bronze statues and artworks, however these were destroyed due to the valuable status of metal.
At the end of our tour, meeting outside the Wedding Cake, instead of going on to the Vatican, a group of us decided to go on a bit of a shopping tour. Nessa and I had a few more days in Rome up our sleeves so the idea of rushing about the Vatican museum didn't really appeal. So, stopping for coffee I also decided to have a bit of a snack. This spinich filled yumminess actually seemed to be incased, not in pastry, but more like a batter, actually a lot like yorkshire pudding. Pottering on towards the Spainish Steps and the shopping district nearby, Ang and I spied a post office which we both needed. Unfortunatly it took us a little time and we lost the others. We did, however, find post boxes and, to our amusement a shoe shop called Danielle! The irony!
Catching up with the girls at Piazza Navona, we found they were having lunch but since both Ang and I had eaten at the
cafe earlier we strolled around the Piazza with Bob and John, partaking of the sunshine, which was gorgeous and checking out the artworks for sale. Leaving the girls to their boozy lunch (go you girls!) we decided to retrace our steps of the previous evening to see the sights that we hadn't really been able to appreciate because of the rain. Acting as the afternoon's tour guide, we wandered back through the Pantheon, to the Trevi Fountain and back to sit in the sun at the Spanish Steps. Last time I was in Rome we were told about the crypt of the Capuchin Monks, who, when they die, their bones are used to decorate the crypt. So we headed there for an extrememly creepy experience - in one of the crypts were the words :
What you are we once were. What we are you will be. Totally amazing place though.
We also visited the Church that is adjoined and I fulfilled my mission of lighting a candle.
Walking back to the Spanish Steps - you should see how great my ass is looking after all these stairs - we headed up the hill to one of
the most amazing views in Rome. Overlooking the city, with the Vatican in the distance, this was great. Not to mention that the stone wall was so toasty after being heated by the sun all day! Strolling past a couple of cars that had been destroyed by falling trees in the previous night's storm, just highlighted how glorious the weather.
That evening was our formal, optional extra Farewell Dinner. To our suprise, not everyone showed up. In fact, a massive chunk of the group was missing. Now I don't know about you, but I would have thought that a formal Farewell Dinner would be one of the optional extras that you would feel obligated to go to in order to say goodbye to everyone, even if you thought that the meal was going to be awful etc. Anyway, we still had fun, with a couple singing opera, the necessary photo with the fake gladiator and a variety of different foods, the evening went really well. Driving back to the hotel we convinced Simona that we should go back to Flux, the club we had originally visted when we first arrived. So off we all trooped, tequila and red wine
flowing rather freely. After saying goodbyes to everyone we weren't going to see the following day at breakfast or throughout the day it was off to bed. Good night Contiki.
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