italy

Tramping about

Our first stop was at the Roman and Imperial Forums. The thing about a lot of these ancient sites is that they are all just 'lying there', which kind of amazes me but at the same time of course, what else can you do other than leave them 'lying there'? Not as though you can wrap them up and put them in a museum right...Elaine and I got maps of Rome to navigate our way around, and refered to the travel book of Rome to identify parts within each site.

So, there were the the Imperial Forums. They are lower than ground level, and most parts are cordoned off. But as with everything else in Rome, you just take a look at the site, and you get lost in it. You start imagining the Romans walking around. You imagine the philosphers spouting their theories and debating with each other. You imagine that it must have been a lot dirtier (now it's just dusty) then. You imagine it in its full glory, before the sun and rain got to it.

From the Imperial Forums, we walked to the Roman Forums - I'm not sure of the difference between the two. They are within stone's throw of each other, and seem to have the same structures and building style. You're allowed to walk through the Roman Forums and tramp through the ruins. We were able to identify the key highlights within the Forums, such as the Temple of Romulus and the Temple of the Vestal Virgins. We didn't get a tour guide so we more or less walked through the Forums on our own. But there were a lot of tour groups going round - mostly Americans, so every now and then we'd stop by to eavesdrop on THEIR tour guides.

It was quite relaxed, as we could take our own time in taking photos without worrying about catching up with the rest of the group. We probably missed out some key points, but we still enjoyed ourselves. From the Forum, we walked towards the Colosseum. There were 'Roman guards' standing around outside with short skirts and red capes but there was no way that we were going to pay money to take a photo with them! This time round, we bought tickets to a guided tour - we have to pay to get into the Colosseum. It's only now that we find out that if we paid the one fee, we could have gotten a guided tour at the Colosseum and the Forums, as well as entrance fee to Palatine Hill. The Beverly Hills of Ancient Rome. Too late now, but it's okay, we still took the guided tour.

The tour guide took us all the way to the top level of the Colosseum, showed us the different architectural style that showed when each level was built. We weren't allowed to walk on ground level of the auditorium as apparently it's being reinforced. You can only imagine what it must have been like when it was still 'new' and every brick is still in place. According to our tour guide, the Catholic Church did more damage to Rome's riches than the grave robbers ever did - the Church consistently tour out marble slaps and tiles to build more churches throughout the country. Our tour ended at the top level, with a great view of the Arch of Constantine.

From Colosseum, we walked towards the Palatine Hill. By that time, we were exhausted and needed a drink. Now we had bought a couple of bottles of water each when we left the hotel. At that point, it was 1.50 Euro per bottle. By the time we got to the Colosseum, it was 2.00 Euro each. And by the time we were on the way out of Colosseum, it had gone up to 2.50 Euro! Talk about situational value appreciation!!! It was our lesson learnt for the day anyway. We went to the supermarket at the end of the day and bought a pack of 6 bottles for the following day.

We wandered over to the Palatine Hill and had a leisure stroll through the ruins and gardens. This was where the rich used to live...big houses with high ceilings and big gardens. They directly looked over the Roman Forums - so they really had some view! By that time, it was about 3.30pm and we had been walking non-stop since about 10.00am! Our last stop for the day was Circus Maximus. This was where the chariot races were held, think Ben Hur. We always thought that everything took place in the Colosseum, but our tour guide said that it's not big enough for the likes of chariot races, so we had grand impressions of the Circus Maximus - which literally means 'big circle'. Even though it's not a circle, really...

But when we got there...our jaws dropped. It was just one really BIG DUSTY FIELD! I mean, what happened to our visions of a majestic sports arena??? It's been raped over the years, bricks and tiles and stones taken away for other buildings and structures, until all that's left is this field. What a let down! We had a quick rest by the FIELD, and then took the train back to our (yucky) hotel. It had been quite a day!

posted by feddupfish @ 10:18 PM