December 29, 2005

Date: Thu, 29 Dec 2005 08:45:14 -0800 (PST)
Subject: A deliciously wet day in the Eternal City

Buona sera,

Although I woke up at the usual 7am today, I left the motel leisurely at 11am.
(When in Rome...) It has been a wet day -- raining and drizzling off and on. So
much has happened today and not all of it I'd care to share, but it's been an
interesting day from the sightseeing perspective too! Originally I wanted to go
to Saint Peter's Basilica but decided against it when it started raining. I was
also considering the Pantheon because that is THE PLACE to visit on a rainy
day! But then again, I was there on a rainy day my last time in Rome, so I
decided against that too.

What I ended up doing was walk down to the Colosseo (about 20 wet minutes),
stopping by for a tramezzino(sandwich) and gelato (ice cream) on the way -- yes
it was very cold and wet today for an ice cream, but hey, I'm in Rome! At least
its not as cold as up north -- Germany, France, Switzerland and U.K. are all
covered in white today.

The actual "sightseeing" day started at the Colosseo after lunch, and I went to
the Foro Romano. This is a place that I hadn't seen "fully" on my last visit,
and I was headed towards the Palatine Hill area (site of the old palace ruins)
but in all the wandering just stayed in the Foro Romano. Lots of arches still
intact for the last 1700-2000 years -- Arch of Constantine (next to the
colosseum), Arch of Titus, Arch of Septimus Severus -- all of them have
remained amazingly intact! Well, I remember from the last trip that
Constantine's arch was kept untouched during the middle ages on purpose because
he was the one who introduced Christianity to the Roman Empire. As for everyone
else's monuments, they were stolen from freely to build churches! So everything
else in this area is in ruins. (There were also hundreds of gold statues inside
each arch of the Colosseum that have long since disappeared, as have several
parts of the stadium walls that were later "borrowed" from to build other
monuments and churches during the middle ages).

Well, most of you have been here so I wont talk about the Roman Forum -- I've
already said enough about it from my last trip -- but this was an interesting
place to visit during rain -- I'm lucky I didn't twist my ankles anywhere on
the cobblestones! There are some excellent views of the whole area from up the
steps of the Capitolini, behind the Arch of Septimus Severus. So I spent a
little time there and then started looking for cover -- the rain was COLD and
starting to pour down hard!

The cover was "Musei Capitolini" (the oldest operational museum in the world
that is open to the public -- it has been a museum for the last 500 or 600
years -- something like that). I hadn't been there before and all the tourbooks
list it as one of the top attractions of Rome. A lot of sculptures by
Michelangelo and others, and several frescoes.... and the original bronze
statue of Marcus Aurelius that's about 1800 years old (the copy of this is in
the piazza outside). A funny thing about the information sign in the museum (I
have a picture of it): The sign says he was emperor from 161-180 A.D., but this
statue was first erected in 176 or 180 B.C. -- 300 years before he was born! I
dont know how many other people reading the sign noticed that -- I think I was
the only one chuckling about it!

There is also what's left of Constantine's face and one hand -- the palm must
be about 10 feet tall so the original fullsize statue must have been huge!
Well, I think it was Constantine -- it looks like him, but I don't know for
sure.

At the end of the museum (a little difficult to find as it's a little off the
regular path and there are no signs about it) is an area from where you have
views of the Foro Romano right behind the museum.

The museum itself was built on top of some ancient ruins and those are still
visible jutting out from walls in some places -- interesting to see that!

Well, all this involved a lot of walking and a lot of climbing up and down
several hundred steps throughout the day.... So now I'm back to my motel
relaxing my feet in the warmth of my room and drying my socks, jacket and
cap... about to go out later in the evening again. There are already 75 (good)
pictures uploaded to my website from today, I'm sure there will be a few more
from later tonight..........

Still have St. Peter's Basilica left to see... I MUST SEE THIS ON THIS TRIP,
REGARDLESS OF THE LINE OUT FRONT!

Colosseo and Foro Romano: