Rah Rah and I woke up bright and early in order to make it to our 8:30 am tour of the Vatican. We briskly walked about five blocks to the front gates, waited a brief moment in line before proceeding through security into the Vatican. We were so excited to see that Vatican, to step inside the building. Home of the Pope. It's own religious countries of sorts. A holy city rich with the history of my personal faith.
I approached the little window to redeem our tickets, presented my voucher and watched as the man circled something and pointed to the voucher. Excitement momentarily blinding my senses, I was unsure what the man was trying to tell me.
Slowly the pieces started falling together and Rah Rah started laughing saying that the tour was for tomorrow...
Oops.
Dry run I guess. It seemed I mixed up my Sistine Chapel and my Colosseum.
Jet Lag... that's my story and I am sticking to it!
Luck for us, our Colosseum tour was not until 3pm and we were still in good shape.
Back to the hotel for a wardrobe change and we were off on our days adventure titled All Things Roman Empire!
We proceeded south along the Tiber River and while we were walking we witnessed a Lamborghini tour through the streets of Rome.
From the best we could guess, you could pay to rent a Lamborghini and then race around the streets of Rome by Police escort. As we walked, there was a long strip of road and the drivers would hold back, create some space and then open up and let her rip down the cobble stone streets. Engines screaming. Of course in my opinion, this was nothing different from every other driver in Rome - just a fancier car.
They were exciting to watch!
We walked for a long... long time and finally came to the Circus Maximus. It was an ancient race track of sorts where the Romans would hold their chariot races (Remember a little movie flick called Ben Hur?)
Although the seats and remains are all gone now, the sunken in oval still exists today. Beyond the track are the ruins of Palatine Hill. On our list of sites for the day.
Originally, we had wanted to take a cruise that had a two day stop in Alexandria, Egypt. Unfortunately, being American and in Cairo is probably not well advised at the moment. No pyramids...
And them my good friend, Trip Adviser, told me about a small, but REAL pyramid that existed in Rome, the Pyramid of Cestius. It was quite a distance but it would be worth every mile we walked. If we couldn't see the pyramids in Cairo, this would have to do.
So we walked, and walked, and walked.
And on our walk we saw these guys...
A tour of Rome via Segway. These tourists looked ridiculous. Rah Rah and I had a good chuckle. There was no way you would catch us touring Rome on one of those things!
As we chuckled, we continued walking and walking and walking until, we finally saw the....
Pyramid de Scaffolding (aka Pyramid of Cestius)
Scaffolding... the number one disappointment of our vacation.
I understand the need to maintain the monuments.
Obviously I should have sent a memo letting them know we were coming so they could hold off on covering everything up and blocking our views.
Event planning flop number two of the day - check. I couldn't even bare to cross the street. It was everything to even snap this picture. We simply turned on our heels and retraced our steps.
What a bummer!
Onward Sister! Onward!
Eventually, we made our way back to Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum.
A short walk within the gates and we had our first views of the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine.
Palatine Hill is the winding remains of Rome's aristocratic quarter. It really is unreal to think we were walking through passages that were standing in 1000 BC.
Peek-a-boo!
Cheese!
The one and only "self-timer" photo of the trip.
The one and only "self-timer" photo of the trip.
We loved coming across original wall carvings.
This was part of the imperial residence of Augustus.
We really liked this garden and fountain. Surrounded by orange trees and rose bushes, the air was so fragrant. Rah Rah and I both agreed we had never smelt rose like these before.
Work it Girl! Work. It.
No matter where we went, I was so amazed at the ability of these men (slaves) to intricately carve marble, granite, travertine and other stones like this with uniformity.
They really did build amazing structures.
All with out "modern" technology.
After a few hours on Palatine Hill we ventured over to the Colosseum for a quick bite to eat and our tour.
Compliments of another tourist family who asked us to take their family photo.
We could NOT believe we were standing there, in real life, looking at one of the ancient wonders of the world. It's impossible to explain how it feels inside. Amazing just doesn't do it justice.
But it is amazing.
Rah Rah and I made sure to splurge on the quality of our tours. That was one thing that was important to us both. About a year or two ago, the Colosseum opened private tours to view the dungeons and the upper levels of the Colosseum. A little more pricey, but it was so worth it.
Entering the Colosseum was surreal. It's construction and design was impressive, even today.
Built to accommodate thousands of people.
The first part of our tour, we were able to walk out on the newly created platform on the arena floor level. The platform was built to show how the arena would look to the spectators from above while covering the intricately built tunnels and dungeons below.
We stood there at the same level the gladiators once stood. Looking up where the crowds once sat while cheering for their favorite gladiators as they fought beast and man.
The opposite side of the arena there was a large arch. This was the "winners" tunnel. The winners would leave the arena through that arch echoed in cheers. Unfortunately, the tunnel we entered to see the ground level was the "looser's" tunnel. After the battle, they would drag the bodies out through the opposite side.
The flat 'concrete' areas above the arches was the original flooring, now weathered and missing in some places, that the seats or benches were constructed upon.
There were only a few small sections where some of the original marble seats were still remaining.
We then proceeded to the lowest underground level, the dungeons. Our tour guide pointed out these footings along the floor and the circular centers.
These footers were used to hold posts that supported platforms and intricate pulley systems throughout the dungeon floors. These platforms and pulleys were used to hoist animals and gladiators up to the arena floors. Many times the trap doors were hidden by sand or other props and their locations were unknown to the crowd offering the element of surprise and entertainment.
In the last 15 years, archeologist discovered two rooms in the dungeons that were used for building the ships that were used when the Colosseum was flooded for navel battles.
This was the underground aqueduct.
Initially, the underground tunnels were made of wood. Over the years the Romans replaced the tunnels and dungeons with stone leaving them preserved for today.
Finally we were taken up to the "cheap seats." The very top of the Colosseum.
The view, amazing.
Part of Palatine Hill is the Roman Forum. We didn't have enough time before our Colosseum tour to get over to the Roman Forum. Surprisingly, our tour guide took us over to the Roman Forum after the Colosseum. I winked and Rah Rah and pretended like I knew what was going on.
The best part about having a tour guide for these monuments was not
having to pay for these little audio guides that you had to hold up to
your ear as you walked through the monuments. The best part about Fabio,
our Rome guide, was he had a bag full of before and now pictures. This ruin was our favorite before and after photos were amazing. Just three columns left, they were once part of an amazingly large structure.
So impressive.
The original door on this building, tarnished, but still there.
The remains of this building also amazed us.
We saw these large arches earlier in the day from the Palatine Hill. Unfortunately, we were looking at the building all wrong. It wasn't just three large arched structures... that was just the only thing left of a once magnificent building.
When you stood with the remaining structure to your right and looked down the open space you could actually see what was left of another arch coming off the building. The remains were just one side of the building. The open space was once the main corridor of this amazing building.
Unfortunately, because the building was never adopted by a religious order over the years and used as a church... it slowly perished and crumbled away like so many other ruins.
What a fantastic trip! Thanks for taking me along in your pocket. :)
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