Ancient Rome and Wandering the City

This morning we were up by 7:00am and had our typical breakfast of eggs, bacon, croissants, orange juice and coffee.  And then it was time to board the bus for a morning tour of Ancient Rome with Antonella. We arrived in the area of the Colosseum and the Forum.

Columns at the Roman Forum

We joined up with Antonella and walked over to the Forum for a tour. In the Forum area we found a spot to sit and got an excellent history lesson on the building of Rome and the Emperors. After the lesson we had time to wander around the ruins and take some pictures. We also went into the Senate building and viewed an exhibit – “Roma Caput Mundi”. When our time was up we met the group at the designated meeting spot and then headed over to the Colosseum. Before entering we got a little history of the building and an architecture lesson.

Colosseum

Then we joined the line entering the building and made our way to one of the sections to get a little more architecture information and an explanation of how people entered the building. We were next guided to a railing where we could view the interior of the arena. Here we got even more information on how things worked and what went on in the building. In total I guess we spent about an hour at the Colosseum.

Once the tour was over Thomas and I made our way to the exit and found a spot to sit. I needed to look around the area to find a spot to plant a letterbox. We did find a place but I will tell you about that at Two Plants and a Find in Rome. Once the box was hidden we looked at a map so that we could head over to San Pietroin Vincoli to view Michelangelo’s Moses. We had to walk to the other side of the Colosseum and then make our way up a road to the church. When we arrived we found out that the church was closed until 300pm. We didn’t want to wait for two hours because there was a lot more we wanted to do so we continued on our walk. From the church we walked back to the Forum and then up the road to the Victor Emmanuel Memorial. We went into the building to take the elevator to the top to get what is suppose to be great views of Rome. Unfortunately the elevator was broken so we had to scrap that idea – we ended up just walking around on the outside of the second level of the building. I did get some good pictures but I bet it would have been better from the top. Incidently we were also on the lookout for a restaurant to get a little something to eat. We left the memorial and headed around the corner to make our way to Santa Maria in Cosmedin to see the Mouth of Truth (Bocca della Verita). On the way we stopped at City Hall and the Musei Capitolini. We took pictures of the outside but didn’t go in and then continued on our walk. Shortly we arrived at the church and saw the Mouth of Truth. After that I needed to find another spot for a letterbox. You can read about that at the above link.

Statue atop Victor Emmanuel Monument

 After planting my letterbox we returned to the Victor Emmanuel Memorial area via some back roads and stopped in at a couple of little shops (but didn’t buy anything). Across Piazza Venezia we finally found a place to eat. We stopped at Caffe Napoleon and I had a tomato, mozzarella and ham panini and Thomas had some spaghetti with meat sauce. Once we had eaten we took a walk up Via del Corso and again just did a little window shopping. At one point we saw a sign for the Trevi Fountain so we decided to head in that direction. When we reached to fountain area we stopped in at a gelateria and each got a gelato – I had mango & coconut and Thomas had mint & chocolate. We sat for a while at the edge of the fountain with the many other people that were out on a Sunday afternoon and just relaxed. Thirty minutes later we were heading back to the memorial. We needed to be back there to catch the bus back to the hotel. At 5:30pm the group was on the bus and headed back for the night.

When we got back to our room we had a note with a clue for a letterbox that someone in the group had hidden so I made plans to go and find that later. We needed to clean up and get ready to go to dinner. A few of us had decided to return to Ristorante Arturo for dinner. Before dinner I started to get things packed because tomorrow we head out for Tuscany. So I started arranging my suitcase and got everything packed that I didn’t need for the night. Then at 7:30pm Thomas and I along with Mark, Sue, Dave, Deanne, Judy and Cheri headed over to the restaurant for dinner. I had a pepperoni, ham and olive pizza and Thomas had penne with black pepper & cheese. After dinner we headed back to the hotel and made a small detour to find the letterbox – again you can read about that at the above link. Finally back in the room we got ready for bed and called it a night. Our last day in Rome proved to very busy and we pretty much got to do all we had planned. I am really looking forward to the next few days in Tuscany.