My OneWorld Around The World Trip: Rome, Day 1

We arrived in Rome, a bit tired, but excited to see what we could see. The weather was beautiful, and we loved that it was cool and the air was not as humid as our last several destinations. We watched the landscape roll by driving into town, and started feeling more and more excited as things started looking “Romanesque”. At one point I was struck by what seemed like an awful lot of graffiti, but I guess the way we came into town, we passed through a more rundown section. As we started getting into the more tourist areas, that gave way to the more typical Roman architecture, some really pretty buildings and settings. Then, suddenly, we were passing well known historic sites, and we knew we were in Rome! A few minutes later we got to the hotel.

The hotel was pretty good, for an Italian hotel. I remember the one other time I got to visit Rome with my Mom and brother Joe, and also from my reading, hotels in Rome as just not what we are accustomed to in the States. Space is at a major premium obviously, and the infrastructure dates back, oh, several thousand years anyway… So even though buildings have been updated and refurbished, what you pay is much more for something remotely comparable to an American hotel (or hotels in a lot of other places, for that matter). With all that said, our hotel turned out to be very nice anyway. First, I had set my expectations low initially already, one key to enjoying any vacation. So I was pleasantly surprised by a lot of things. Although the room was pretty Spartan, and the lights didn’t work exactly as expected (in fact, I never figured that out), the hotel did several things to try to extend a hearty welcome, which overcame any deficits. They gave us free minibar, for one thing, so every day we could refresh ourselves with some treats from there. Then, breakfast is free too. I had heard “free breakfast” in Rome meant some dry toast and a little fruit, but in fact, the spread was pretty lavish each day, so we really filled up first thing in the morning, to give us fuel to last the day, and it didn’t cost any extra.

We were pretty tired after checking in, but knowing our time is limited, we decided we needed to head right out. The Coliseum and Roman Forum, and the old emperor’s palaces on Palatine Hill, are all within a few blocks’ walking distance from us, so we decided to see those first. We made it right over, and started in.

An English tour group talked us into signing up with them, for 10 Euros more than the admission fee to the sites, and we thought this would be good, since we would get more information than we would just walking around. In fact, later, we learned there are audio tours that provide really in depth information. Had I known about that, I would just have skipped the guided tour. It turned out to be fine, but they rushed us in just before closing, and honestly, I would rather have just walked around or gotten an audio tour. They did show us the highlights in the Coliseum and give us some good details, but nothing we would not have gotten from a cheaper audio tour, which would be at our own pace. We also got to see Palatine Hill, at least some of the highlights. We only had a few hours before closing, so we left feeling like we missed a lot of things we would have liked to take our time exploring. But all-in-all it was still a great introduction to the site. After our “tour”, we walked entirely around Palatine Hill, getting some great photos of the Forum, Senate and other ruins, and just seeing what we could see. We found our way to the Circus Maximus too, a now completely ruined site, but where you can still see the outline of the largest arena constructed, much larger than the Coliseum, which was used for chariot races. Finally, we made it back to the Coliseum and now everything was lit up, so we got even more pictures at the famous sites.

Afterward, we had dinner at a nice little café on the street by the forum. These are everywhere around the tourist areas, and pretty good value. We got Gelato ice cream after. There is a Gelato shop about every 100 feet on every street we passed in Rome! It is good, too, as these people obviously like their ice cream!

We made it back to the hotel and fell straight out. By then, it was about 5am Hong Kong time, where we had been the previous night or day or whatever it was.

We were there!

David inside the Coliseum

Holes where marble surface and iron beams inside the stone were cannibalized for other buildings (including the Vatican).

Panoramic view inside the Coliseum

These pretty red flowers were everywhere.

Another shot of Coliseum

Sun disappearing over Palatine Hill

Flowers on Palatine Hill

Panoramic view atop Palatine Hill

Buildings in the Forum, Coliseum in the background

Does David look Senatorial? I hope so, because that is the Roman Senate folks, where Julius Caesar was assassinated, among other things!

Status of Ceasar with SPQR, meaning Senatorus Populus Quo Romanus, I think, something to the effect of "senate and people of Rome", which appears all over the place in Rome.

More ruins at the Forum - I think this is from Temple of Venus or Temple of Castor and Polix

Ta da!

Palatine Hill and palaces in background, Forum in the middle, David in the foreground

The legendary she-wolf who raised Romulus and Remus, the former of whom founded Rome after murdering the later. Lovely story! We learned the word for "she-wolf" was the same word as that used for practitioners of the oldest profession, so the actual story may be dubious to say the least!

I think this must be Minerva, captured at the golden moment of dusk. She was in charge of reason if I recall correctly. Her gown is the most precious red porphyry.