Ooootay! so, day 3 of our trip - Rome day! We arose, ate one last delightful breakfast, and skedaddled. We hopped back on the Circumvesuviana, rode it to its zenith in Naples, then hopped on our locomotive to Roma. Upon arrival, we started our search for our bed and breakfast. After winding through various sketchy parts of town, making Jenn grit her teeth, we arrived at our destination...only to discover we were about 5 minutes from our starting-point at the station. Damn you google maps.
Now, on the way to Rome, Jenn had been sketching an itinerary of sorts. According to her calculations, we would need our full two days to see everything deemed necessary. Well friends, I tell you now, we did almost all of it (minus the Vatican) in one day. Not even one whole day, like half a day. Item one on the list - see the Colosseum. So off we went. We grabbed some (delicious) pizza and ate it on a low wall outside the huge monolith. It looks just like it does in pictures, just as imposing and overwhelming. (Sidenote - I think it is even cooler at night. Please see the pictures below and make your own decision)
The important thing was the giant building in front of us of course, but I bring up the pizza for 3 reasons: 1) people told me that Roman pizza is crap, but I found it very yummy, 2) it confirmed that Florentine pizza is, in fact, crap, and 3) zucchini is a really good ingredient on pizza and an Italian word we "incorporated" into American English. But back to the Colosseum; we headed towards the entry way, and were almost immediately accosted by a million tour companies. We initially brushed off most of the offers, but somehow allowed ourselves to be talked into one. I can't remember why we stopped for this particular group, but I think someone may have complimented me on my sunglasses (a sure way to this girl's heart). In any case, it proved to be one of the best decisions we made on or trip.
Though at first it didn't seem that way. We joined a human cattle train/our tour group and streamed into the Roman ruin. Our guide was a peculiar fellow, dressed in a linen suit with tennis shoes and dirty jacket cuffs. He had a potbelly and a very unusual accent, which we later decided was an Italian/Australian mix. I think I fixated on his appearance and/or accent because it was more interesting than what he was saying...he wasn't the best tour guide I've ever had. He was particularly obsessed with the ancient Roman physique, using multiple adjectives to describe the extreme beefiness of the gladiator. Otherwise I didn't learn much, besides that Romans invented/perfected cement and probably wouldn't have been able to make half the wonders they did without it. But luckily I'd seen enough Hollywood movies featuring the Colosseum to get the general gist of the layout and purpose for the building without further instruction.
After the guide was done dispelling his few wisdoms, he turned us loose to roam for an hour before the next part of our tour. Jennie and I circled the arena, pretending that the squalid hordes of touristas below us were squalid hordes of Roman spectators (not much of a stretch really), before heading to the gladiator exhibit. The exhibit outlined the various types of gladiators and the people who were conscripted/enslaved/volunteered for such a dangerous career choice (the proportions of the three groups changed over time depending on the status conferred with the position). It also included full costume recreations...which basically means they had me at "embossed metal shield complete with gilded stallions". An hour was not enough time to see it all, but we had no choice but to move on. So we left to explore Palentine Hill and meet our new guide, Fe, the best tour guide EVER. But, I think I have exceeded your short Gen Y attention span at this point, so I will introduce you to Fe tomorrow. You will love her, I promise.
As a parting multimedia experience, please take a gander at this mushroom lasagna we made for dinner:
Lovelove!
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