Ruins of an empire

Today was Ancient Rome day, and our first stop was the Colosseum. Unfortunately the line was horrendous but we got sucked into a tour group in order to avoid the hours of waiting. It was 10E/ea over the ticket price, which actually wasn’t that bad to save us so much time. The tour guide we could have taken or left, but he did seem to enjoy describing the various and sundry animals that would face off with hunters in the arena. And he had a few amusing quips so it turned out pretty well. We could have gone on to the other ruins with another guide (included in our ticket) but we weren’t quite done with the Colosseum yet. Good thing we went back in too, because there was a whole exhibit on the royal family that ordered the structure. That was cool. Also Peter got to look more extensively for the place where Bruce Lee fought Chuck Norris in Return of the Dragon. We thought it was on the second floor somewhere and after coming home and watching it on youtube I think we’re on the right track. Anyway it was pretty impressive even in its tumbled-down state, so I’m glad we got to get in.

Between the Colosseum and the Roman Forum we got hungry, but got tied up unfortunately in a supertourist trap. Even though it was recommended online it was not very good, and we got price gouged even after perusing the menu (damn bread and tip prices). Boo. At least there was a supermarket at the corner, and we went there for a box of Magnum bonbon equivalents (nomnom) for much less than they’d be anywhere else. Our new lunch rule is that if we see a supermarket we should stop if we want the cheapest lunch available. We are perhaps somewhat embittered but that’s all part of the experience!

With food in our tummies we headed to the Roman Forum, armed with our free audioguide from Rick Steves. Apparently they have changed the entrances to all these places to put in ticket offices (according to Peter) so it’s very different than how he (and Rick) expected us to get in. Eventually we made it though, and although it was terribly hot it was also very cool to be there. Not every day that you get to see Cesar’s tomb and other 2000 year old buildings. The Palentine Hill was also included so we headed up there to see a panoramic view of the Forums in addition to a few other cool things – the gardens, some cool ruins, a neat fountain room, all sorts of things. The sheer size of what the Romans did without any formal construction equipment other than slaves was quite impressive. Imagining what it would have looked like in its heyday was really something! Without the audioguide I’m sure it would have been a bit less exciting – it does look like piles of really old rubble, after all – but knowing the significance of said rubble was very interesting.

That was quite enough to cover for today, though, and the typical shower/nap kick occurred after we got our sweaty selves back to the hotel. Peter has a pretty fantastic v-neck tan due to the lack of serious sunscreen application but oh well, another souvenir. Dinner again was on our same street – boy are we getting lazy – and this time we went to Pugliamonti, which was actually very good. We finally tried (kind of by accident) the fried pumpkin flowers which have been recommended in more than a few guidebooks/maps, and they were surprisingly alright! Other things we ordered were also good, including the recommendations the waitress had and the dessert with little fried half moons of dough filled with strawberry preserves on top of a lot of chocolate sauce. Hooray tasty food, finally. Tonight’s waitress was great too, but she didn’t have the one-liner I forgot to include from last night’s waiter, which was “No bills, I have only Barack Obama” in response to us asking for the bill. Pretty cute.

Alright very sleepy! Tomorrow we absolutely must do laundry…exciting I know. Probably there will be a bit more to it than just that. See you then.