Yeh...we went to Rome!
We went to Rome...we actually went to Rome. It was a lot easier to do than I anticipated. One coach and only one change on the metro meant that getting there went pretty smoothly, hurrah! However there was a lot to see and do so this entry is quite a long one, and mainly consists of opinions which might show the more ignorant side of my personality...
The sun was blazing down on the cobbled streets as we exited the metro station. Spying some steps we headed there to "have a sit down" as it was quite hot and I needed to apply suncream. The people around this area were a motley bunch, all sorts of tourists from all over the world. Pretty impressive...
We then consulted the map and decided to head for the Spanish Steps. So off we went, down one of the many via di... streets. It wasn't until 5 minutes of walking that we realised that we were heading back in the direction we had been in originally. Yep. Sure enough. We had already been to the Spanish Steps. In fact we had been sitting on the Spanish Steps for at least 20 minutes. Congratulations us...that was one sight ticked off the list (and by accident too, bonus!). Next to the Trevi fountain!
Water. It's very refreshing when the air temperature matches that of your internal body temperature. Ironic that we aren't coping in the heat when the heat we are in is the heat of our insides!
Anyways, back to the water...which, in the Trevi fountain, is plentiful. Gushing, and clear, sparkling and lovely! Crazy to think that it's another one of Rome's places that were made to show how amazing someone or something is. Not really a practical addition to a city, except to fill a really small piazza, but it was beautiful. Really stunning, worth just watching. And the people watching here was hilarious. In particular the traders attempting to make their wage, selling (of course) splatty pig things. You throw a ball shaped pig onto a smooth surface and it instantly morphs into a flat splat before curling back into a ball. Genius. But, as it turns out, not a popular purchase of the day. He really should have gone for the parasol or fan or iced water market, they were doing well. But the "splat pig" was as successful as the men flogging fake designer bags for...wait for it....68€. Scandalous. Mum and I wouldn't spend 68€ on a bag that is actually designer, let alone a fake!
Oh yeh, inbetween the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain, we did venture off the "main road" Via del Corso to grab a bite to eat but it was pretty unimpressive grub, quite fresh mozarella in my sandwich but nothing worth going back for. But the ice cream that we had from the gelaterie opposite the Pantheon is worth the 3.50€ we paid. Amazing. And quite a lot of ice cream. Yum, yum!
So on to the Pantheon. That was a cool building, in both terms of the word. Big. And round. With a massive hole in the middle. And a lot of people, again. It was amazing. The beam of sunlight pouring into the building was impressive and highlighted just how awesome the structure of the building is. Architecturally I have no idea how it works, but it does. I'm guessing it takes a similar design to that of an igloo, all about the force and stress of shapes, materials etc. But anyway. It makes a pretty impressive place. (I imagine you're now thinking, "Wow, she really has read up a lot about the history of the city instead of blundering around with a map, guidebook and a backpack, speaking rough Italian/English merged together."...Yes I know...today has been a day of pure touristic ignorant bliss!)
Now the Colosseum. We went there and finally got in after having a bit of trouble getting our tickets as we didn't have access to a printer. I do highly recommend booking in advance with one of many museum ticket websites if you want to go to see popular tourist attractions, as it really would have saved time if we had the print out!
Moving on...the Colosseum. Who'dve thought that in some time A.D., a good few centuries back, the Romans used a "token" system to ensure that crowds did not drink too much wine whilst watching people being executed and animals being slaughtered. Genius. And as for the idea of sitting and doing your spinning whilst this is happening, definitely up there with the activities I would be doing whilst watching the hunters and gladiators "do their thing".
My word. I thought the Colosseum was an interesting place, and much to Mum's delight, I did manage to hold back reading every single information board, but I was tempted. I did however learn that there was a 100 day festival when the amphitheatre was made, that's a lot of dead animals. And I also learned that these dead animals were cut up and given out to the crowds who had watched them die. So if you want to know where your meat came from, and how it was killed in those times, surely just pop down to your local amphitheatre. I quite liked the old school Roman ways...except maybe the death penalty of course.
So to sum the whole day up. Rome is very big. There were a lot of other things that we saw, and it seemed that every single corner had some sort of historic building behind it, in fact that is the case. It was too much to take in. I think when the scorching heat has dulled to just heat, I will pop back as much as possible and who knows, I might read up on the places I go beforehand!
The sun was blazing down on the cobbled streets as we exited the metro station. Spying some steps we headed there to "have a sit down" as it was quite hot and I needed to apply suncream. The people around this area were a motley bunch, all sorts of tourists from all over the world. Pretty impressive...
We then consulted the map and decided to head for the Spanish Steps. So off we went, down one of the many via di... streets. It wasn't until 5 minutes of walking that we realised that we were heading back in the direction we had been in originally. Yep. Sure enough. We had already been to the Spanish Steps. In fact we had been sitting on the Spanish Steps for at least 20 minutes. Congratulations us...that was one sight ticked off the list (and by accident too, bonus!). Next to the Trevi fountain!
Water. It's very refreshing when the air temperature matches that of your internal body temperature. Ironic that we aren't coping in the heat when the heat we are in is the heat of our insides!
Anyways, back to the water...which, in the Trevi fountain, is plentiful. Gushing, and clear, sparkling and lovely! Crazy to think that it's another one of Rome's places that were made to show how amazing someone or something is. Not really a practical addition to a city, except to fill a really small piazza, but it was beautiful. Really stunning, worth just watching. And the people watching here was hilarious. In particular the traders attempting to make their wage, selling (of course) splatty pig things. You throw a ball shaped pig onto a smooth surface and it instantly morphs into a flat splat before curling back into a ball. Genius. But, as it turns out, not a popular purchase of the day. He really should have gone for the parasol or fan or iced water market, they were doing well. But the "splat pig" was as successful as the men flogging fake designer bags for...wait for it....68€. Scandalous. Mum and I wouldn't spend 68€ on a bag that is actually designer, let alone a fake!
Oh yeh, inbetween the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain, we did venture off the "main road" Via del Corso to grab a bite to eat but it was pretty unimpressive grub, quite fresh mozarella in my sandwich but nothing worth going back for. But the ice cream that we had from the gelaterie opposite the Pantheon is worth the 3.50€ we paid. Amazing. And quite a lot of ice cream. Yum, yum!
So on to the Pantheon. That was a cool building, in both terms of the word. Big. And round. With a massive hole in the middle. And a lot of people, again. It was amazing. The beam of sunlight pouring into the building was impressive and highlighted just how awesome the structure of the building is. Architecturally I have no idea how it works, but it does. I'm guessing it takes a similar design to that of an igloo, all about the force and stress of shapes, materials etc. But anyway. It makes a pretty impressive place. (I imagine you're now thinking, "Wow, she really has read up a lot about the history of the city instead of blundering around with a map, guidebook and a backpack, speaking rough Italian/English merged together."...Yes I know...today has been a day of pure touristic ignorant bliss!)
Now the Colosseum. We went there and finally got in after having a bit of trouble getting our tickets as we didn't have access to a printer. I do highly recommend booking in advance with one of many museum ticket websites if you want to go to see popular tourist attractions, as it really would have saved time if we had the print out!
Moving on...the Colosseum. Who'dve thought that in some time A.D., a good few centuries back, the Romans used a "token" system to ensure that crowds did not drink too much wine whilst watching people being executed and animals being slaughtered. Genius. And as for the idea of sitting and doing your spinning whilst this is happening, definitely up there with the activities I would be doing whilst watching the hunters and gladiators "do their thing".
My word. I thought the Colosseum was an interesting place, and much to Mum's delight, I did manage to hold back reading every single information board, but I was tempted. I did however learn that there was a 100 day festival when the amphitheatre was made, that's a lot of dead animals. And I also learned that these dead animals were cut up and given out to the crowds who had watched them die. So if you want to know where your meat came from, and how it was killed in those times, surely just pop down to your local amphitheatre. I quite liked the old school Roman ways...except maybe the death penalty of course.
So to sum the whole day up. Rome is very big. There were a lot of other things that we saw, and it seemed that every single corner had some sort of historic building behind it, in fact that is the case. It was too much to take in. I think when the scorching heat has dulled to just heat, I will pop back as much as possible and who knows, I might read up on the places I go beforehand!
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