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Published: September 14th 2012
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I realized this morning that I didn’t “publish” the last blog entry. It was ready to be posted last night, but didn’t get published until this morning (which was Thursday night back home).
Today was a full day….a lot of it in the rain! We woke up to pouring rain. We went over to grab breakfast at the restaurant across the street before heading out to see some sights. With the weather not good, the taxis were quite hard to find. We had to wait at the taxi stand for almost 10 minutes before a taxi came by.
Our first stop of the day was the Colosseum. In my travels around the city the past couple of days, I kept looking for this in the skyline, but could never see it. I finally saw it today. From a distance, it really doesn’t look so big. Maybe it’s because I have heard so much about it, and how great of a building it was, that I was perhaps expecting some giant skyscraper. Don’t get me wrong, it’s massive, especially considering it was built in the year 80 A.D.
We had purchased a Roma Pass, which allowed us to bypass
any lines for tickets. We walked right in. I imagine it was much less busy than a normal day, but because many people had umbrellas, it made it hard to navigate. We walked around the Colosseum, taking some pictures along the way. We were listening to a free audio guide tour on my iPhone, but we thing that this place, along with the Forum, would be worth getting a guide for.
After we exited the Colosseum, we headed across the street to Palatine Hill. I was in a bad mood for this part of the day. We were following a tour on my iPhone, and it kept zig zaggging through the area. There were some parts that were closed off, and the directions were poor. I tried to get to the back to have a view of Circus Maximus, where chariots would race around a course. This track could hold up to 250,000 people!
Connected to Palatine Hill, was the Roman Forum. This was the political, religious, and commercial centre of the city. For some time, this was considered the centre of the civilized world. You need some imagination to wander through these ruins. We overheard a few
things from various tour guides. There is a lot to see here, and we sort of skimmed the surface. Julius Caesar’s body was burned here after his assignation. There is a mound of dirt that marks the spot and has flowers on it.
Not far away is the Victor Emanuel Monument. It’s a massive monument for the first king of Italy. It’s 200 feet high and 500 feet wide. There is a statue of the king on a horse in the front, which is the largest equestrian statue in the world. You can pay 7 Euro to ride an elevator to the top of the monument. There are amazing views of they city, in every direction.
A few blocks from there, we had lunch at a small place. There are countless restaurants along every street in Rome it seems. The ones that are very close to top tourist destinations tend to be lower quality food at higher prices. If you luck out, you can find a truly local place that is inexpensive, have great food, and a great atmosphere. We’ve been really lucky with the places we have chosen. No bad experiences.
By chance, we found San
Pietro in Vincoli. Inside this church are two great sights. First, is Michelangelo’s famous statue of Moses. He died having failed to complete his greatest work – the tomb of Pope Julius II. As well, there is display of Peter’s Chains. There are two sets of chains linked together. One set is said to have held Peter when he and Paul were in prison near the Forum. The other set are from when he was jailed in Jerusalem. I won’t get into the story of how they became linked together, but it is a significant piece of history. It’s hard to imagine that two very important pieces of history are inside the walls of a church that is hardly noticeable. We almost walked right by it. Countless other sites in Rome house similar types of artifacts. Amazing.
The last thing we did today, other than go out for dinner, was to arrange for train tickets for upcoming day trips. We decided, rather than take the taxi, to ride the Metro to Termini Train Station. We had to ask for help getting on the Metro. We had gone through the turnstiles and ended up on the wrong side. We had
to go back out, up to the street and over and back down to get on the correct side. The subway was packed, covered with graffiti, and uneventful. The Termini Train Station….was a different story.
Termini Train Station is massive. There are a 2 or 3 dozen tracks that depart from here, heading in all directions. Inside the terminal, there are thousands and thousands of people walking in all directions. It looks and feels chaotic to the rookie train travelers such as us. All we were doing today was getting tickets. Before we did that, I needed a restroom bad. I followed signs a couple of times, and finally found one. I went to enter and realized I needed to go through a turnstile that cost 1 Euro. I didn’t have a Euro on me, so off I went to get change. I finally found a place where I bought some gum. With change in hand, back to the washroom I went. I got inside, did my business, and lo and behold, I needed help getting out! I didn’t realize I had to press a small red button on the side. Overall, that was the most stress I’ve had
to go pee!
We bought two sets of tickets. We decided that tomorrow we are going to take a day trip to Naples and Pompeii. Sunday, we are going north to a town called Orvieto to meet up with friends, Sam and Phil – who both turn 40 in a few days!
A couple of random comments – in our travels, I was swarmed by some women (it happens often, so I didn’t panic). They actually caught me off-guard. I had heard of pick pockets working in teams. One lady was holding a small baby. Another had a piece of cardboard. I had heard prior to coming that they will stick the cardboard in front of you, as if looking for a handout. Meanwhile others come in from the side and go for your pockets. You can’t see them with the cardboard distracting you. I stepped to the side quickly, saying no. They went on their way, and my wallet and me went on my way. Hey, where’s my camera? Kidding.
The other comment – leaving the train station, some guys tried to get us a cab. We ignored them, and walked up to cabs in a
large line. These guys will try and get you in to crooked cabs. They’ll take you long ways, and charge you 3 or 4 times as much. Our honest cab driver warned us about them. He says they use intimidation, with knives etc. He’s had many arguments with them I guess. It’s just something to watch out for when traveling here.
With that, it’s a wrap. We are headed to an early dinner. It’s already 6:20 pm here and we have a big day in Naples and Pompeii tomorrow. And it’s finally stopped raining! Tomorrow will be back to nice weather. Oh, and I just noticed the man with the accordion is playing in the piazza below now. We hear the same songs over and over – your cliché Italian accordion songs. I want to lean out and request some Guns N Roses to mix it up.
Ciao.
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