Day 3 – A Colosseum apartment?
October 17 - Rome, Italy
Another early morning but this time we would be on our own. Ryan and Carol had a tour to do the underground, while we had just a humble, regular tour. So we quickly packed up at the room, turned our luggage into the front desk, and headed to the subway station. It was a quick trip… Only about 5 minutes and when we emerged from the street, there she was. Colosseo was absolutely beautiful, absolutely massive and absolutely impressive.
There were a lot of people around, but not nearly as many as there would be later on in the day. Since we were the very first group opening it up, the crowds spread out once we got inside. We hurried to the arena floor and looked about the spectacle. Years and years of history and there we were! Standing on it! Where the gladiators fought. Elijah took pictures with his DSLR while we sat and tried to imagine what it looked like at its heyday.
Next stop was up to the "bleachers"
We voyaged back inside and up the many stairs. There was a “mini museum’ set up inside, detailing Troy and the Colosseum’s usage during the Renaissance age. I never even thought of it like that. Like many others, I often associate the colosseum with Roman gladiators and emperors. But That was over A THOUSAND years ago…life absolutely happened since then. Especially since historians and archaeology has only been around for a few hundred years.
I spent more time walking through the exhibits than I did on the area floor. I was so interested by the thought. They found animal pens, remains of storage areas, living areas and shops. Basically, this majestic building at one point in history was nothing more than a king-sized apartment building.
and that thought was WILD to me
It makes total sense, again, entire eras had passed in this time. It’s not like Rome was just the last period of time… why is it we go from modern time and just jump back 1000 years. Of course other people saw and touched this piece! but…what did they think of it? Did they know that the Colosseum was a world wonder? Did they care? The general populous couldn’t read..much less read Latin. Did they even realize its significance? Or was it just some abandoned, rich man’s folly in the woods down by main street?
I tell you, I haven’t been this shook in a long time.
So we took all of our pictures, we walked through the museum, and just appreciated it in a new light. While it was cool in a Roman times mindset, I think I appreciate it a lot more thinking about it in a more common era.
Elijah was getting cranky and rude, so it was time to feed him
We paused our jaunt to the Roman Forum and opted instead to look for a nearby cafe. We found one on a street across from the Colosseum so we sat, ordered Cornettos (croissants) and like heathens, drank up cappuccinos (Italians don’t drink cappuccino past 11:00 a.m.)
Wholly satiated, we headed back to the Roman Forum. We knew we wouldn’t have time to explore it in its entirety, so we hit up the museum first to get an overview of the place. The museum was set in an old basiclica…and…we were confused.
We’re in Rome. In the Roman Forum. Stone looks Roman. But the plaster on the walls…? Not roman. The art painted on the plaster? Definitely not roman. The architecture of the building? Close, but certainly not Roman.
Nope, because, oh yeah
1000 years is a LONG TIME
The basilica museum was NOT a Roman building, but a Baroque one. The Cloister of Santa Maria Nova was built in the 1600s, long after the fall of Rome. It was close to the architecture, mostly because its designer was paying homage to Rome…while also using a few of the available materials on site. There was an entire history of…interesting use, reuse, “restoration” and preservation in its several-hundred-year history, but I shan’t bore you with that. Basically, we enjoyed the building for what it was and its story.
After that we headed out and wandered into the remains of another basilica. It was started by some dude named Maximus, but finished by our main man Constantine…who also took official credit for it. The basilica would have been massive in its day. After seeing Saint Peter’s yesterday, in our minds eye we could almost see exactly what this one would have looked like. Grand alcoves that once housed giant statues, long hallways and huge asps on either side…we walked around just so stunned in awe of the sheer size of the thing. We could visualize what it looked like and really fully appreciate how much it takes to maintain such magnificent places.
It was time to go
It was time to go. We hurried the hotel, pick up our luggage and back to the train station. Take about 45-minute train ride would take us to Civitavecchia cruise port. We found a spot on the top floor of the train and spent the time chatting, debating history and watching the Italian countryside breeze by.
After arriving, we quickly found the port authority shuttle which whisked us directly to our ship. We checked in, headed up to the room and unpacked. Carole and Ryan were not far behind us and after we were settled, we met up with them in their room.
Of course, it couldn’t be as simple as that. Their tags didn’t work, so we had to head down to guest services. After that, it was time to celebrate our arrival with ice cream.
This is Ryan’s first cruise. First time seeing the ocean, first time even being on a boat bigger than an inflatable. So this was all an EXPERIENCE for him.
After ice cream, we made our way to the front of the ship to watch us pull out into the bay and the sun to set.
Carole was worn out from their Colosseum tour, so we dropped her off and showed Ryan the sights. He was excited overwhelmed, overjoyed, nervous…all the feelings. And Nate was overjoyed to share the love of cruising with him. We ended the day with a fancy dinner and the boys ended it with a trip to the decktop hot tub.
