Rome: Day 2
Disclaimer: These are all unedited and uncensored. They are raw emotion, intellect and information. I hope you enjoy my experiences.
*Miranda and Alyssa are my sisters and Thomas is my soon to be brother in law.*
It’s about 10a here now and I’ve been up since about 7:30. I’m glad to be rooming with my dad because he’s an early bird. He’s generally very kind about waking me up and doesn’t sound the alarms or anything. We had a nice leisurely breakfast which Miranda joined and then got some money from the ATM before walking through the neighborhood market. There are shifty people everywhere around here! A woman was hovering as my dad got cash and I had my hand holding his pocket closed because she kept inching closer.
The marketplace was really fun to walk around. It was just starting up and there were individual shops for meat, cheese, veggies, etc. Most people were minding their business but a few said hi. We walked back to the hotel and I showered and got ready for the day. I’m back to having wifi which is great because I can communicate with Britt on the regular. I’ve missed her so much!
We made our way through the subway which feels safer than Athens, maybe because we were more prepared. We rode a few stops to get off at Colesseo. Can you guess what that means? It’s wild. You step out of the subway to have a view of the Colessium. It’s breathtaking. It was very busy when we arrived and we headed towards the forum.
The next three hours were an overwhelming whirlwind of information, sites, people and sun. It was really hot, really busy and there were about a million things to learn. We chose to get a couple audio tours but I didn’t tap into them very much. My brain is very overloaded with information. I chose to just take in the sites and realize where I was rather than try to learn about each artifact and each building ruin. It’s a magnificent site. I remember the history of the culture and how violent it was, all the slaves they used and how they spread themselves too thin causing a revolt. I enjoyed taking it all in but was ok with leaving. It began to rain as we walked to find food. Luckily my dad had umbrellas for all of us.
We chose to eat before entering the Colessium. We waited til about 4:30 to eat after having breakfast at about 8. Thomas and I were joking that our brains were turning off and we were becoming robots. At times through the day, we all split into different groups guided by our walkie squawkies as Miranda calls them. Finally we’re eating.
Right now I’m looking through a window from our restaurant and I can see a really awesome frame the Colessium, which my dad joked asking if it were real or a movie scene. It’s pretty amazing. I’m taking deep breaths to take it in. I smell rain and sweat.
There’s almost all American music around here. Michael Buble is on the radio right now. I could listen to love songs all day long. I think I waited just a little too long to eat because now all I want is a nap. We’re sitting in the restaurant figuring out what ti do next. Alyssa and Thomas are interested in taking the guided tour of the Colosseum and I’m feeling pretty much the same.
Allergies seem to hit me at the same time no matter where in the world I am. My allergies have been crazy this afternoon. My head feels large and my nose keeps running. I keep sneezing over and over. I took some allergy medicine but I’m still feeling it.
We headed over to the Colosseum quickly after lunch. It was the one time we had to pull our umbrellas out the entire trip. How lucky can you get!? We’ve been very fortunate with the weather this trip. The Colosseum was really amazing to see. It had more of an effect on me than the entire Forum area did. It’s just incredible how they devised a pulley and trap door system to make the wild animals and gladiators “appear out of nowhere”. We’re talking two thousand years ago! I wonder what it was like doing the logarithms back then without a scientific calculator. Hell, I can’t even do calculus WITH a calculator! They built part of the stage so we can see what it was like. It must have been an awesome spectacle to see if you were lucky enough to be involved.
The gladiators were either slaves or people wanting fame. Some were given a death sentence by being thrown to the wild animals with no training whatsoever. They would massacre the animals sometimes. They killed over 11,000 wild animals. Sometimes they would line ostriches up and behead them with arrows all at the same time. I wonder what kind of animal activists existed back then. It sends a shiver down my back. Once, they capitalized on a whale having washed up on the shore near Rome by making a mechanical whale and having 40 bears climb out of it’s mouth! The bears inevitably faced their death. Sad day. Regardless, to imagine the scenes put on at this amphitheater is just a staggering thought.
There is also a museum on the second floor of the Colosseum. It’s called Nerone and dedicated to the time of Nero. A quick idea of Nero. He was not going to become emperor until his mother married the current emperor which made him the heir. Once he became the emperor he slowly went crazy ad put death hits on any senators that were against what he wanted. He was accused of starting the great fore that destroyed much of Rome. Eventually the people turned against him which caused him to kill himself. Though he didn’t kill himself, he was too much of a coward, so his secretary did it for him. He died at 31. It was a really cool exhibit. We got kicked out of the Colosseum as it closed - one hour before sunset. That’s a cool closing time. Miranda and I sang “Closing Time” by Semisonic as we walked out.
Afterwards we headed back to hotel via the metro. Our feet hurt a lot from the day of walking so we decided to bidet our feet. Obviously that’s not what the bidet is for but it served us well. We were all split up for a little bit before meeting upstairs at the bar for wine and beer. The sunset was beautiful as we talked with some folks from Orange County who were staying at our hotel. They were hitting something like 11 countries in 17 days. That’s just crazy!
My mom requested chocolate so my dad ran off and returned with a ton of it. Miranda and I made some really cool mosaics, inspired by all those we saw in Europe, with M&Ms and ones that are similar but more colorful called Smarties. There are pictures. We all then said good night and crashed out for an early morning to hit the Vatican.
