After arriving at the Piazza di Capidoglio, we spent a few minutes, snapped more photos and then continued on past the other side of the Forum and on to the Colosseum...
There were amazing buildings, statues, obelisks and monuments in any direction. There was so much to look at that you just couldn't see everything! Everywhere there was another archaeological area, a ruin, etc... There were also a few people out there "Busking" - or begging/street performing for money.
Some of them were very entertaining:
Finally we made it up to the Colosseum. I have to say - it's stunning. Simply amazing.
It's huge and the detail awe-inspiring. Everywhere outside of the Colosseum there are people trying to sell you guided tours, food vendors and HOT Italian men dressed up like gladiators that charge you to take a photo with them. (Amy was inspired by this to want to marry an Italian and have Gladiator night...) We opted to skip the guided tour (25 Euro extra) and wait in the line. We decided to go for the audio tour (it got us through the line WAY faster and only cost an extra 4 Euro). Well, first of all, the audio tour thingy was REALLLLLLLLY dang boring. It's kind of a buzz-kill too. The voiceover is really boring and monotonous and just conflicted with the feel of the actual Colosseum. So we shut them off and just wandered. I'm sure there was some fantastic information on those audio tours, but much of what we heard is practically common knowledge. So we spent a good chunk of time just walking around, admiring, taking photos, enjoying the sheer majesty and epic architecture/engineering that is the Colosseum. Fantastic.
Oh, FYI - before leaving the Colosseum, we used the toilet. That's right, we peed in the Colosseum. Pretty cool.
HUNGER! That's what happens when you haven't eaten in a while. I'm not going to lie - we ate a couple of hours prior - a nice fruit snack, so I wasn't ravenous, but considering we were in ITALY I decided to suck it up, take one for the team and go ahead and eat.
We took the gentleman who we ran into at the top of the Forum's advice and found his ristorante (Cafe Le Numacchia, which means "Sea Battle") tucked away a few blocks behind the Collosseum. We had delicious pasta again! This time I had Bucatini pasta... yummm... And then something ensued that was probably one of my favorite adventures of my entire life. Truly. An Italian man sat behind me and Amy became obsessed with the color of his eyes. Blue, but light, glassy grey-blue. Gorgeous. Eventually she took a couple of photos of him, trying to get the color. Of course he came up to us and asked to see the photos! Push came to shove and we ended up with a bottle of Italian Wine as a gift from him (see previous blog post "Adventures with a Bottle of Vino). :)
Full, fat and happy again, we decided it was definitely nap time. Headed to the nearest park and parked it overlooking the Colosseum on a grassy hill.
Now refreshed, we decided to get back to the serious business of being tourists. By this point, I was REALLLLLY ready to hop on a scooter, but alas we couldn't find a scooter rental place, or catch a couple of hot guys with them to take us for a spin. :( Maybe I should have called the guy from the previous night? ...Nah.
We had some priority sights to see: The Colosseum (Check), The Forum (Check), The Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain and Pantheon. Vatican City we'd hit up if we weren't too pooped after those five. We'd mapped out what looked like a good route, but unfortunately the map was really not that great. So we started walking and just kept walking. We eventually ended up at the Spanish Steps (which we'd expected to see after the Trevi Fountain).
There's not much actual ancient history to the Spanish Steps - they were built to connect the Piazza di Spagna to the church above. In the 1800's or 1900's, some author came along and said the steps were "THE" place to go to socialize and people-watch. They are featured in the film "Roman Holiday." Amy and I grabbed some Gelato and sat down on the steps to read about them in our guide book.
While we were doing this, we heard a group of people below us, cheering! We stood up to see a couple in a horse-drawn carriage surrounded by a crowd. The guy had just proposed to the girl. After receiving his answer, he raised his arm with his hand curled in a fist and shook it, victorious! The crowd erupted into cheers and then everyone promptly went their way.
Another highlight was this adorable little Italian, curly-haired boy (age three-ish who kept running around us (and accidentally[?] grabbed Amy's boob in passing. Italian men. LOL.)
Next up we looked for the Trevi Fountain... this is where we actually got lost. Plus we were exhausted and not really thinking straight. We went WAY too far and ended up at the Piazza del Popolo (Place of the People), which was also gorgeous, just not the desired target. Turned around and headed back down Via del Corso and found The Pantheon!
HOLY.... The Pantheon. Another building that shows just how incredible Roman builders were. The scale, size... Che Belleza! Astounding. It was originally built by the Romans as a temple to worship all of their gods (hence the name Pantheon), but it was taken over by Christians later and turned into another Christian church. To this very day, it's free-standing domed roof and oculus remain an unparalleled feat of architecture.
A really cool, public fountain outside of the Pantheon
Same fountain - if you plug the bottom, the water squirts up, making a drinking fountain! Ingenious!
Three coins in the Fountain! Another great old film. It features the Trevi Fountain. Legend says that if you throw a coin into the Fountain, you will return again to Rome. Well I definitely couldn't miss that! If I had my way, I'd never again leave Rome.
After the Pantheon, we came full circle back to the Piazza di Campidoglio. The sun was just starting to peak at Sunset. We hadn't yet decided what do to - we were exhausted. We wanted to see Rome at night, all lit up, but didn't know if we would make it that long, especially given that it would take an hour to get back to our Hostel and I had a flight to catch in the morning. Blast! So, not sure what to do and in a sleep-deprived stupor, we sat on the steps, laid back and took a nap with a bunch of other people in the Piazza. When in Rome!
One particularly cute little kid was having trouble sleeping:
You'd better believe I'm going back. As soon as I can! I loved London. I loved Paris. I've enjoyed the beauty of many cities, from San Francisco to Saint Petersburg. But Rome puts them all to shame. There's so much more to see and do. It's simply my niche. I could live there quite easily. Maybe I will.
