Rome

We arrived in Rome and Mom and Dad took the car back to the rental place. On the way home, they were supposed to take the express train but it was delayed by 25 minutes so the 15-minute journey took 40 minutes total. Then we walked around in our immediate area and enjoyed the parks near us. We had pasta for dinner and went to bed.

Today we started by subwaying and walking to the Pantheon. It was incredible to see the worlds largest unsupported concrete dome. There was no supporting structure of metal. We had lunch at a barbeque place that was very good and continued on to the large Campo de Fiori market. We got there and saw stalls of spices and pasta and limoncello. Along with hats and jackets and even a guy selling tools that would juice a lemon or spiralize a cucumber. He was doing a demonstration like those you see at a grocery store. “But wait there’s more”. We walked to get a gelato. We walked up a Set-of-steps-that-definitely-are-not-designed-to-look-like-the-Spanish-steps. We walked through someplace that was clearly popular Because there were large crowds waiting in line. We walked around the corner to see the Roman forum ruins before us. We took some pictures and walked down the steps to a large plaza-road.

We watched stunned as millions of starlings appeared from all across the city. There were more every second. They started to murmurate and we saw multiple large groups join and split. As we watched them, all as one they started diving for the trees and jostling and squawking for the best spot for the night. Then they were all pretty quiet so we left. We walked a little farther and saw the Colosseum. It was too late to go in and getting dark so we left by subway to go home. Tomorrow we will go back to the Colosseum.

This morning we took the train to the Vatican and found out it was a two-hour wait. We decided to buy tickets online for tomorrow. We took the train to the Colosseum and got off and found that it also had a long wait so we decided to buy online tickets for Thursday. With both plan A and plan B exhausted, we went to figure out our plan C over Pizza and Pasta. Dad had the Mushroom pizza, I had the cheese and pepper (the spice) pasta that was VERY peppery but good, and Mom had the bruschetta with tomato and mozzarella. We planned to go see the temple of Vesta (who our dog is named after) and the Circus Maximus. However, after our great lunch, we found that the Temple was in the Forum which is accessed with the Colosseum ticket so we decided to do that Thursday. We walked to the Circus Maximus. Once there and were blown away by the size. It is even larger than the one in Caesarea that we saw a few years ago. It is approximately 2000 feet long and 300 feet wide. That is 609 meters and 100 meters for you international readers. We walked one way and I ran the other. The Circus Maximus was used for chariot racing. It was one of the most dangerous sports as charioteers often lost their footing and fell off still tied to the reigns killing them as they were dragged along the ground by their horses.

We then started the walk to Trevi fountain and the Spanish Steps. We took a longer route to the Trevi fountain so we could see some more archeological sites for the fun of it. However, this did not exterminate the problem of fending off people trying to sell us selfie sticks. They were everywhere we went in the city! We arrived at Trevi and I was amazed by it. I had seen pictures but had not really known what it was all about. The size of it was astonishing and also the craftsmanship. We watched the water and threw a coin in for good luck. We walked on to the Spanish Steps and by the time we got there, it was pretty dark. However, this did not stop us. I got a drink from the boat fountain (Got soaked too!) and we started the climb up the steps. We counted 137 steps in total and then we went to the bottom to get on the train home.

Today we stayed home and worked most of the day. We got a new suitcase as the old one is falling apart, too many miles!  At around 3pm we went to the Circus Maximus subway station and walked across the river to the neighborhood we had been told to eat in. We found a good restaurant for dinner after stopping at a bakery for something sweet for tomorrow. We decided on meringues. At dinner, I had a tomato and rocket (a type of lettuce) pizza while mom had lemon linguine and Dad had prosciutto and mushrooms pizza. We went home and went to bed early excited for the Coliseum tomorrow.

This morning we went to the Coliseum. We got up early and went there for our 9:00 am tour. We waited for a few minutes and then we then went to the Forum and walked around there. It was amazing to see the old buildings and roads and think “Who else has walked right here?” It is crazy to realize that this area has been populated thousands of years longer than people have even known about the new world. It brings a new perspective. We got to see the temple of Vesta, the goddess of home health and family, she is also the goddess that our dog is named after. We walked up old streets and saw temples to kings and gods. We saw where Julius Caeser’s cremated remains are and also his large temple. We saw a road that had been used for 2000 years before the Romans. We explored all of the other buildings that made up the main Roman Forum. When the sun started to set we went home to prepare for our flight to Oslo in the morning thank you Italy and Rome!