Chris & I wanted to take my mom to Europe for a nice vacation. We asked her where she wanted to go, and she picked Rome. Sounded good to us! Chris had a business trip scheduled to Austria for the week following Thanksgiving. So we tacked our Rome trip onto his to make it a little easier. We flew from Boston to Zurich, Switzerland on Thursday, 11/15. Then it was a 1:10 hour flight to Rome!
Hop On Hop Off bus trip - to get ourselves acclimated to Rome & all it has to offer (which is a heck of a lot!)
1st day was the Roman Forum. Amazing! The building below - in the background was the Senate house. Dating back to B.C. times. Yes B.C. Julius Caesar was in this building. Hard to believe until you actually come face to face with the history. This area was flooded by the Tiber River & silt buried it. It is an ongoing archaeological dig site, with much to still be discovered. So cool!
This building is still in good form. If you look closely at the columns, you can see the gouges where they tried to pull them down at some point. Our tour guide said that many professors believe that 70% of ancient Rome is buried underneath the current Rome. It seems that everywhere we went in Rome, there was an ongoing archaeological dig.
The site where Julius Caesar was burned. He was assassinated elsewhere, but laid to rest (cremated here). His body burned for 7 days in the year 44 B.C.
More of the Roman Forum.
Arch of Septimius Severus - 203 AD
Me & Chris
B.C. roads - 'All Roads lead to Rome'
Colosseum finished in 80 AD. It only took 8 years to build (13,000 slaves helped), and it could hold 50,000 spectators. It was used for gladiator contests and public animal hunts, executions, and re-enactments of famous battles.
The back half of the building was pillaged by the Catholic churches, which used the marble to build other churches. One of the Pope's put a stop to the stealing, and put a cross inside the Colosseum (see picture below).
The inside - so amazing. The floor is gone, and there are at least 2 levels below (where the floor would have been). The animals & other gladiator contestants were kept here before the contests.
Lots of visitors and November is the 'off season'.
They have built a small floor to give visitors an idea of what it looked like.
This used to be a staircase.
The Cross put here by the Roman Catholic church. The Pope does the Stations of the Cross here every Good Friday.
Such a beautiful building. So much is missing, but fortunately, so much is still remaining.
Mom & Chris by the Arch of Constantine - dedicated 315 AD
Mind blowing Day! It was time for a birra (beer)
More to come! Rome has non stop 'atmosphere'; archaeological sites; churches; food; shopping...
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