The wake-up call at 5:30 AM came way too early this
morning! (We have a sea day coming
up on Saturday and we will surely need it.) We arrived at Civitavecchia, the port for Rome, around dawn
and by 7:15 we were on our way to Rome.
Our first stop was the Colosseum.
Thank goodness for group tickets; the place was packed. We made our way in and walked through
marveling at the place. Since we
were last here more of the underground where the animals were kept was visible. Also a lot more restoration has been
done. The building could seat
56,000 people when it was in use and it took only 8 years to build. We find that remarkable given it was
built in the 2nd century AD.
It’s also interesting that much of the disrepair of the building is due
to “recyclers.” After the fall of the Roman Empire,
people came and began stripping the marble façade and iron that supported the
inner and outer walls to use in other building projects.
After leaving the Colosseum we drove past the Palatine Hill, the Forum and the Circus Maximus (where chariot races were held with 300,000
spectators) which is now just a grassy oval . Our next stop was the Trvei Fountain. It was packed as it has been whenever
we’ve been there. We had to push
our way down to the fountain’s edge to toss our three coins in for luck. We learned today that once a week the
fountain is turned off and a large vacuum is used to collect the money that’s
been thrown in. It goes to the
Italian Red Cross for their charitable works.
After leaving the Trevi Fountain we walked to our bus and
along the way we saw this very well-dressed horse, but what caught our eye was
the bus behind and its destination.
It seems like it would be a long ride! We also noted the manhole covers which are all labeled with
SPQR, which stands for Senatus Populusque Romanum. This was the symbol on the
standards of all Roman Legions and it was tattooed on Roman soldiers. Originally it meant
that all things and all power flowed from the people of Rome. That changed as the Empire emerged and the Emperor became the absolute ruler. Today it pays tribute to the ingenuity
of the ancient Romans who developed a fairly sophisticated water system for
that era. Lunch was at a very nice
restaurant on the Via Veneto.
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| The bus may have a long drive to Washington! |
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| Add caption |
Our last stop of the day was the Vatican. We entered through
the Museum and passed through several galleries including 500 year old
tapestries, maps of Italy and some sculpture. When we got to the Sistine Chapel it was absolutely
packed. I’m glad that we had seen
it before because this time there was no possibility of sitting along the
perimeter and looking up at the ceiling.
From there we progressed to St. Peter’s Basilica. The scale of the church and the works
of art contained therein are always awesome. On the way out we passed one of the
gates of the Vatican which is guarded by the Swiss Guards. These young men must be Swiss citizens
who have served in the military, are single , and between the ages of 19 and
30. They must be at least 5’ 8”
tall. They wear a traditional
uniform from the middle ages.
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| A member of the Swiss Guard at a Vatican Gate |
Then it was back to Civitavecchia and the ship. We were exhausted. We walked another 7 miles today and
spent a lot of time on our feet listening to information. We called it an early night and the
blog post will have to wait until another day.
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