Rome -- Day 2, 3, and 4 -- Coliseum and Other Stuff

Update: Not much to update since we did a blog a week ago. This might be a new record (if we actually get it done tonite)!

On to the blog...

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Yay Italy!

Ok, first -- this blog probably will be super picture heavy because we just walked around taking pictures of everything we wanted to see -- which is why, second, this blog will cover the next 2 days in Rome.  

On day 2, we got up early and, after fighting our way into the bathroom, went to catch the city bus to the Coliseum. We decided to learn from our own example at the Vatican the day before and, instead of walking through Rome all day to end with the Coliseum, we just figured we'd start there and work our way back home.

Turned out to be a great idea because we spent about two hours at the Coliseum and two more hours across the street at the ruins of the Roman Forum. 

Oiler Man at the Coliseum

Not much to say about the Coliseum really - it is as incredible as you think it would be to see it. Also, there is something familiar about it for us, I think, coming from a culture with massive stadiums in every big city. It's just sitting in the middle of a major street -- like, "Hey, the Coliseum, no big deal." Except, it's the Coliseum and so it is a big deal.

Yeah, kind of a big deal. Melissa nailed this one.

From the other side

So, these guys are walking around the outside to take pictures with tourists.
Ha-ha suckers! Not us!

On our way in to the Coliseum

And then...

Seeing the outside is so spectacular -- and then you get inside and it's a whole other level

Honestly, one of the few vacations that we had really nice weather (sunburns notwithstanding!)

Again, we totally recommend the Rick Steve's podcast tours

Amazing to us how deep the underground was and how many passageways for people and animals

Us at the Coliseum

A little difficult to choose where to start or end with the pics of the Coliseum (we have loads more) but I think you get the idea. On one of the levels of the Coliseum, we could look out and see Constantine's Arch...

And a closer look at the Arch from below...

And the next stop on our walking tour of Rome...

From the Coliseum - Palantine Hill and the Roman Forum

Coliseum and Arch behind us

So, this is the whole complex. The Roman Forum is just a part of it.

We walked around the ruins for awhile (I'd like to say because we really wanted to feel the history and all of that -- but we just got lost).

This was some sports training ground

So, yeah -- we really like the random ruins of Palantine Hill

And that just left the Forum...

Caesar's tomb -- and we were there one day before the Ides of March -- which happens to be Melissa's birthday!

I am sure this looked better back in the day

Hmmm. Looks like that big triceratops poop in Jurassic Park, but you know, whatever.

We tried to find the exact place that he was murdered (and I am sure we could have had we done some research) but it seems that Caesar was murdered in a few different places in Rome.

This is one possibility - steps leading to the Forum chamber room -- but probably not

From the far side of the ruins

And more cool columns

Pretty sure anybody could spend a whole day at either of those locations. But, we had to move on...

The Italian History Museum was just on the other side of the Forum.
Amazing -- of all the things we saw in Rome, this was the most shocking.
Everybody knows the Coliseum, Forum, Vatican, etc -- but we had no idea this was here.
It is ginormous.
Plus, inside is the statue of Romulus and Remus suckling on the she-wolf that raised them (we didn't go in)

Stairs leading from the Forum to the museum

After all of that, we just started drifting towards the Pantheon. Along the way, we were almost killed several times. I, honestly, don't know how anybody drives here -- much less walks around. Plus, there are tourist groups everywhere (some of which consist of hundreds of people). It's just a chaotic mess -- fun, but crazy.

This picture is from later -- but all of these mopeds were on the street at the same time just zipping around.

And these. In Hungary, we have a lot of bikes -- and they drive like nutcases -- but there are far fewer of them. I think I read that the population of Rome is about 2 million -- but it can swell to up to 5 million on any given weekend.

Our next stop was the Pantheon...

A bit underwhelming after the Coliseum - plus Meliss was thinking of the Parthenon.

Outside Pantheon

Entrance

And inside

It's really a small building -- holding the tombs of at least 1 former king and Raphael (which Meliss was interested in after having been through his rooms in the Vatican the day before).

Raphael's tomb

Umberto's grave -- king that unified Italy

and his wife...

Margherita -- just like the pizza (which is why Meliss took the picture)

And, of course the dome of the Pantheon...

Eh...

Back outside,

Obelisk fountain at Pantheon

After, we just wandered around towards Piazza Navona for some lunch.

Piazza Navona

We had a small lunch and a glass of wine and took in the scene. It's something we have...I don't know if learned is the right term...but we don't want to be running around so much on vacation that we don't have a chance to enjoy ourselves. Also, it gives us a chance to try and absorb some of the stuff we are seeing. I mean by the time we had this lunch, we had seen the Sistine Chapel, the Pieta, St. Peter's Basilica, The Coliseum, the Roman Forum, and the Pantheon -- it's insane really. It was nice to just sit here and relax for a bit and people watch.

Some building across from us as we ate lunch

Re-energized after lunch, we struck out towards Trevi Fountain...

This square was packed. It's a neat fountain but it was so crowded we just snapped a few pics and headed out

We did throw our coins in
I think you are supposed to wish for riches or a return to Rome.
We threw for riches because, based on the cost of our lunch, it will take riches for a return to Rome

On to the Spanish Steps...

Back to our original point about seeing the Coliseum first -- we were pretty exhausted by this time so, I mean, they are neat and everything but they are just steps. I think it's the entrance to the high-end shopping area of Rome

We made our way up to the top (past all the signs saying, "please don't sit on the steps").

Rome, from atop the Spanish Steps...

From there, we tried to start making our way back to our hostel but ran across another big plaza.

Piazza Del Popolo...and the Statue of Liberty (bonus)!

These Egyptian obelisks are everywhere which get kind of boring until you think that these came from Egypt -- like back in the Pharaoh days

We eventually found our way back to the river and followed it to our hostel.

Along the Tiber River

Not the most picturesque river -- but the rest of Rome makes up for it

Along the way, this may or may not be the Italian Parliament...

and Castel St. Angelo...

I remember that we grabbed a sandwich from a street cart at this point (it was good) and crossed back to our hostel to rest a bit. But all in all, a really successful day I think!

After our nap, we ventured down to the Trastevere area just to hang out for a bit.

Crossing the bridge to Trastevere

We decided against a big dinner this night but would return the next day for a nice meal. On our way home, we popped into a little hole in the wall (by hole in the wall, I mean it was kind of normal, nothing special, it was certainly not a dive or anything) kind of restaurant, and got some wine.

When they brought our wine, they also brought us two plates of assorted bruschetta. Ok, now at this point we were hungry again -- we had walked through Rome and were done for the day -- and we both looked at each other like, "we didn't order this." But both of us could really have gone for some bruschetta at that point so we spent the next ten minutes sipping our wine and debating the cost effectiveness of eating it.

At some point, Melissa looked away and I just scarfed the salmon one -- and then it was on! It was like a feeding frenzy. We wiped the crumbs away and just waited for the bill -- and, it was free! Sweet! (ok, not free -- two glasses of wine were 10 Euros -- but with free bruschetta, ok!).

We crashed, slept in a bit the next day, and went back to St. Peter's Basilica to catch a tour bus. We had seen everything we wanted in two days, and the weather was nice, so we jumped on a tour bus and rode around for the afternoon.

Plus, I was sunburned after two days of walking around in Rome (in March!). We checked in a pharmacy for sunscreen but it was like 20 Euros for a little bottle, so I just roughed it....like this --

Fun in the sun!

Here are a bunch of pics from the bus...

Palantine Hill

St. Peter's Square

Ruins in the middle of Rome -- Rome's subway is mainly on the outskirts of the city because every time they start digging in the city they run into some ruins.

I mean, this is right in the middle of the city

Oh, and this is another spot where Caesar may have been murdered -- close enough for us since it was actually the Ides of March.

Some other square in Rome

And the Italian Museum

Ok, so that was a couple days in Rome and, it's just an amazing experience...and amazingly expensive but we did save to splurge one night for a nice Italian dinner...

Wine and peanuts -- what is this, the Ground Round?
Ok, this wasn't actually from our big dinner, it was just another glass of wine in some random square in Rome.

But, we did have a nice dinner in Trastevere...

Melissa's ravioli -- but she didn't care for them all that much -- 

I, however, loved mine.

Oh, quick side story about Hungarian-Roman relations...a teacher at my school, Betti, rode the bus with me on most days last year. When I told her that we were going to Rome she just started laughing and said we should look for the signs that say, "Hungarians, please don't steal our ashtrays," or something like that. So, I asked her to explain why they would have such signs and she just said that Hungarians are kind of known for stealing pretty much everything if it isn't bolted down. Now, we didn't see any of those signs -- BUT -- there was an ashtray on our table at dinner...it is now in our flat because we stole it. And, that is our one souvenir from Rome. We've never felt so Hungarian!!

And...that was Rome. 3 days, lots of history, food and wine! Rome is special for us because it's..well, Rome. Seeing the Coliseum, the Pieta, the Sistine Chapel, Raphael's rooms, and everything is something we always thought we'd want to do -- but never really thought it would happen. Incredible!

Next up: Bratislava and Prague!!