Getting There
We left Williamsburg on Tuesday morning, drove to the airport in Richmond and flew to Chicago where we caught our flight to Rome. It was delayed an hour or so due to thunderstorms, but at least it was delayed before we boarded so we didn't have to sit there on the tarmac and wait it out. It was a nine-and-a-half hour flight in coach which is about six-and-a-half hours over the limit for me. I was miserable but at least we had something to look forward to and be excited about.
Once we landed, our first bit of excitement was the cab ride to our hotel. Holy tamale! This guy was aggressive! At least we didn't hit anybody (that we noticed) and he deposited us at the Hotel Lancelot, just a couple blocks from the "Colosseo".
Roma!
Our room was on the fifth floor (really the sixth floor but in Italy, the ground floor doesn't count). The view out our window was to the courtyard shared by the hotel as well as a couple apartment buildings. They haven't yet discovered clothes dryers in Italy, so you see a lot of clothes hanging out windows to dry on various devices. That's me in front of our hotel. The third photo is a street scene near where we had lunch and the fourth is a view up Capo D'Africa; our hotel is on the upper right side.
I kept a small journal during our trip so I wouldn't forget things. In it I also did a few quick sketches. This one is from across the street from Hotel Lancelot. It was a nice place - the people were friendly, the service was good and it was one of the few places where we were able to actually acquire a small bucket of ice to take back to our room.
We were trying to conquer jet lag by staying awake until the evening, going to bed and getting up the next morning. Supposedly getting on local time reduces the effect of jet lag. The jury is still out. Anyway, we thought getting on the "Red Bus" for a tour around the city would be a good way to get the lay of the land and help us stay awake for the afternoon. We did manage to stay awake but I'm not sure we learned much about the lay of the land. I took a bunch of photos of important places we passed, but I'll be darned if I can tell you what they were. They were taken from the upper deck of the bus, mostly while it was moving, so they may be a bit blurry. Or maybe it was my jet lag that made them blurry.
Well actually I do know what some of them are. How about you?
Out in front of one of the places we ate. We had lunch at a little cafe around the corner from our hotel. It had a view of the Colosseum, which we thought was pretty cool. We met up with Greg & Kelly and John & Jan later Wednesday evening. Their flight had just arrived and we were about to hit the sack.
Rome, Day 2, Thursday
We had a tour of the Colosseum and the Forum scheduled for Thursday morning with Angel Tours but unfortunately the Palantine Hill area where the ticket office is located was shut down due to an unannounced "Union Meeting". The tour was rescheduled for noon and we went and toured the Church of San Clemente instead.
The Church of San Clemente
The Church of San Clemente is interesting because the site has been is use as a place of worship since the third century or earlier and you and descend into the levels below today's level and see the remains of the earlier buildings. It actually gets kind of creepy and claustrophobic 20 or 30 feet below street level in the dimly lit little rooms and corridors. The church is located about a block or so from our hotel and three blocks from the Colosseum. The interior photos are hard to take. Flash cameras and tripods are forbidden.
The Colosseum, the Forum, and Palantine Hill
The Colosseum
What is the most recognizable structure of antiquity? OK, after the Pyramids of Egypt? Right, the Roman Colosseum. It was awesome seeing it in person and then walking around inside it. It's hard to imagine that there was a culture 2,000 years ago that had the wealth and the wherewithal to build a stadium for 80,000 people (make that men, and a few Vestal Virgins) to view various "sporting" events. (I think the spectators were the ancestors of today's Raiders fans.)
There we are below with our English tour guide.
The Arch of Constantine is sort of between the Colosseum and the Forum so it get's its own spot.
The Roman Forum
The Forum is so complex that I'm not even going top try to explain what it is and its significance (as if I knew anyway). It dates from roughly 500 BC to 500 AD. You have the Arch of Titus, the Basilica of Maxentious, the Temple of Romulus, some old columns, some guys archeology-izing, etc.
Views of the Forum from the Palentine
Palantine Hill
The way I understand it, The Palantine was sort of like the Beverly Hills of ancient Rome. All the cool dudes made their homes (er...Imperial Residences) there: Caesar, Quintus Hortensius (B-list patrician), Agustus, Tiberius, Caligula, the Flavii (at least a couple guys named "Flavius") and Septimus Severus (not the guy from Harry Potter). Now there are a lot of ruins, a museum, some pretty good views, and some nice vegitation.
