Roma 2 - Colosseo

We woke up around 10am, quite exhausted from the early and lengthy previous day. Rachel had a granola bar breakfast, and we hit the METRO for the Colosseum. We had no tour reserved but I was pretty sure we wanted one, so someone could tell us what was in front of us. The previous day had been mostly an exploratory day and while it was great, we were just looking at these things without any understanding of what they were, why they were there, or how old they were. I wanted an expert.

When you leave the METRO station at Colosseo you exit to the Colosseum RIGHT in front of you. Stevie Wonder sees the Colosseum when he exits the METRO. And we didn't have to put forth much effort to get a tour. You are basically bombarded with offers for English tours - we must look American. We just agreed to the first tour that was offered, didn't look around to haggle or compare prices. Glad we did it that way, more on that later.

We paid for the tour, 25 E each, which includes the admission, and allows you to skip the line. We had to wait around for about 15 minutes for it to start. It was hot - we found shade. Finally time to begin and our guide introduced himself as George, Clooney. No, but really, his name was George - looked and sounded nothing like Clooney - in his dreams. The tour started with an introduction, which I suspect was our 'wait in line time.' The intro was extremely informative and included visual aids - a book that would show comparisons of what it used to look like at different times. Most know the original use of the Colosseum from 'Gladiator,' but I didn't know that there was a two-boat naval battle inside, and that at one time, it was an apartment complex of sorts. George knew his shit. He did, however, have a thick Italian accent, making it tough to understand him at times. Sadly, it's already hard for me to recall the glutton of facts that were given to us, but it ended up being well worth the money for the tour. After our time with George was complete we had 90 minutes of free time before the 2nd tour would begin - the Palatino and Roman Forum. Now when we purchased this tour in the morning, we were promised two tours: the paid one of the Colosseum, and a 'free' tour to follow. I'm realizing now that the 2nd free tour was a sales pitch, but that's ok.

So we spent our free time wandering through the museum portion of the Colosseum. There is currently a special tribute to Nero going on, so much of the exhibits were about him. Artifacts, sculptures, and written placards led us through to the exit, and it was time for lunch.

By pointing through the glass at "that one, and this one," I ordered a panini for me and for Rach. I added a Heineken; she was craving a Iced Tea – peach, I think it was. We found a nice spot on the steps near where the next tour would start to eat our lunch. Mine was excellent - pretty sure Rach was jealous.

Johnathan arrived to lead us through the Palatino and Roman Forum. I didn't really know what either of those things was, and we almost skipped the 2nd tour, as we were sweaty and tired - one of us had a major backache. But, we soldiered on with Johnathan and his British accent. He was much easier to understand.

The Palatine is sacred ground that began the entire Roman Empire. It's the place where the orphan sons of Mars, the God of war, were found. They were raised by a mortal until adult age. You have probably heard of Romulus and Remus. Romulus would go on to battle his brother and kill him - after the initial truce, Remus entered into Romulus' territory. In order to begin his settlement, Romulus needed to steal women away and produce children, which he did. This was the first use of a 'roofie.' He threw a party and got all the women drunk. Then he and his men stole them away, ran back to his gated city and locked the doors behind them. All ancient Romans believed they were descendants of Romulus.

The Roman Forum is basically what was the ancient 'downtown' of Rome. And now it's partial buildings and so many artifacts, you almost trip over them. Rachel actually did.

Johnathan ended with us perched high up above the Forum with a beautiful view. I took a panoramic. He brought us into the shade and gave the sales pitch for the other 2 tours that he does: the Vatican and the Roman Mysteries. We were already planning on heading to the Vatican the next day, so it was perfect luck that he was guiding a tour there too. We signed up for the next day, knowing that we were in for a great tour, as long as he had 1/5 the knowledge of the Vatican as he did of that day's subjects.

We headed home, first stopping off for some water and a shady resting spot.

I'm not going to bother mentioning the dinner from night 2. We made a mistake and shouldn't have strayed from our neighborhood. Lesson learned. When in Rome: eat at a place where the menu looks like it was a kindergarten art project.

Vatican to come...