Rome, Day 1 - Colosseum, Forum, and Palatine Hill

The street in front of our apartment

So, we were all checked in to our apartment, the kids said they didn't need a nap (though I did), and so we took off. First things first, we were hungry. There was a little cafe just around the corner with reasonably priced sandwiches, so there we went. The sandwich was probably the best one I've ever had. It was just prosciutto and mozzarella, but they were both so lovely, and the bread so perfect, that it required nothing else. Plus, they had Fanta. Win win.

Raphael

After that, we decided that since we were very close to the Pantheon, we would do that first. I knew enough about it that I knew there was the hole in the ceiling, but I didn't know it had been changed from the worship of all gods to the worship of just the one. I was rather disappointed. I wanted to see statues of gods, not statues of saints. Ah, well, it was still pretty . And, Raphael's grave is there. So, that's cool.

We then headed down toward the Colosseum. We went up to where there's a place you can look out over the whole Forum and see the Colosseum at the end, so we had some fun with panoramas there. 

The Forum with the Colosseum in the background

It was hot. Keep in mind, it is October, so it wasn't drop to the ground dying sort of hot, but we had been in the 50's and raining in Germany since the middle of August, so 80 and sunny was pretty darn hot. Especially since the only bottoms I had packed were jeans. 

Since the Forum was between us and the Colosseum, and since I had read that if we bought tickets ate the Forum or Palatine Hill (the tickets are good for all 3) that the lines would be significantly shorter, we decided to find the entrance. We didn't. We found the exit, but not the entrance. So, we just went to the Colosseum.

The line was pretty darn long. But, it moved pretty quickly. Along the way, there were many, many offers for guided tours. As we got closer to the front, the offers became cheaper and cheaper. But, no guided tour for us! Just another long-winded audio tour. Some audio tours are better for kids than others. This wasn't one of them. Em listened to the first station, the rest of us were bored with waiting, and she handed it off to Mom. Good choice, because Mom could listen and walk at the same time, a skill which Em has yet to master. I thought it was cool the way that you can see down in the tunnels now - the ones that used to be under the field of battle. You can see where the gladiators came in (and where they were dragged out), and you can see where the animals were kept. It was hard for me to picture where the seats were, though, so we got a book of overlays.

Palatine Hill

After the Colosseum, we got some gelato and went over to Palatine Hill and the Forum. They're both in the same park area. On our map for the Colosseum audio tour, there was also a map of PH & F, so we were able to find the entrance. Honestly, I was disappointed with much of it. So much was raided to make newer ancient stuff that there really isn't all that much left. There are some cool areas where you can see where a garden used to be, and there are a few structures that you can really tell what they were, but mostly it's just stuff that's hard to place. They might tell you that one part was an emperor's reception rooms, but it's really hard to tell. There were some pretty sculptures that survived, and some areas of mosaic that were amazingly preserved, but all in all, I was bored. Perhaps if I hadn't been so sick with a cold, or so tired from not sleeping the night before, or not in so much pain with my knee, I could have enjoyed it more. I'm glad we went, because there was a lot of history to be seen, but I don't think I'd go back.

On the way home, we went through a farmer's market, and we bought some yummy ravioli to bring back for dinner. Mom & I ran into a little market on the way and picked up some bread and milk and such, as well. We had a lovely dinner at the apartment, where one of our new discoveries was that when you buy tomato sauce in Italy, that's what you get. Smashed up tomatoes. Not my favorite, but luckily the ravioli were really good. Then, we went straight to bed. It was a lovely but exhausting day. It was hot, though, and so we left the windows open. That was not a mistake we made twice. Our bedroom overlooked what was apparently Party Alley. There was music blaring at like 3am. Max woke up once and yelled at the kids to be quiet, because he thought it was them in his half-asleep state. Luckily, there was a fan in the room, so we used that.

Emma says - Day one was really, really fun. I liked everything. The Colosseum was great and I got a really cool book. I liked the Forum and the Pantheon, and the raviolis were really tasty.  But, after all that walking, I was so glad to crash on the couch.