Wednesday morning we took the subway to the Colosseum. We've been told why the subway system in Rome is so bad (only two lines) ... Because every time they dig to build a new tunnel, they find some ancient ruins and have to turn it into an archeological dig! One of our guides described Rome as a lasagna. Over the centuries, people have built layer on top of layer as time and the elements cover up the layer before. In fact, many of the centuries old ruins that have been discovered you have to walk down stairs to as the "old" street level is well below the "current" street level.
I enjoyed seeing the Colosseum and learning more about it's gory past. Our guides helped us discover the truth and fiction in movies like Ben Hur and Gladiator, and told us about why the colosseum was built (to entertain the people, propaganda by the Emperor) and what it was used for (gladiator fights, mock sea battles , Execution). I read that over 500,000 people and over 1,000,000 animals died there. It is one of the Most Recognizable Landmarks of Rome, so it was appropriate to start our visit to Rome with a stop here.
Next we moved on to Palatine Hill (one of the Seven Hills of Rome, a place of legend of the origins of Rome) and the Roman Forum (the ruins of the original city center). Now, pictures of ruins do not translate well I'd imagine, but walking on the same roads that the Roman Army processed down after their victories Five Centuries Before Christ (on the original stones), well, it's pretty neat. And standing in and next to buildings over 2000 years old, well, you just have to be there to get a sense for it.
As it was right after the Ides of March, it was interesting to see the temple for Caesar that was erected where his body was cremated (I think), and flowers that people had left there on the 15th. Aparently activities honoring Caesar still go on to this day, as our tour guide was telling us she belongs to a society that held an event that night that she attended.
After our tour was done, we got some lunch (these consist of 2-4 courses unless you do street food) then went to see the Trevi Fountain where you'll see a picture of Courtney thowing in her 3 coins (To ensure that one day she'll return). We had to be careful, since coins in Europe could be one or two euros as well as change.
We shopped around the Trevi Fountain, then walked to the Spanish Steps, Which were packed with people just sitting and enjoying the view and the rest. After many miles of walking, we also enjoyed a rest back at the hotel before going out again to enjoy St. Patrick's day.
In the evening, we went to the Trastevere area of Rome (pronounced Trast-TA-ver-e) with the emphasis on the second syllable ... this was hard for us to get). This is supposed to be the where the locals hang out, but we were a little too tired to explore the dark streets, so we stuck to a couple of major roads and visited two restaurants, neither of which were celebrating St. Patrick's Day, or serving Guinness! Oh well, we wore our green and wished each other a Happy St. Patrick's Day =)
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