Great Big History

A day time visit to the Coliseum is a stark contrast to the tranquility of a late evening visit. It ranks as the 37th(only) most visited place in the world but for a guys that loathes crowds it might have well been the top spot.

I don't mind waiting in line to do stuff. Today Nic and I only had this on the agenda. For the 30 minutes you wait here, seemingly weather you have a reservation or not, you are swarmed by street merchants trying to sell you water or souvenirs or by guides trying to sell you a guided tour along with the promise of skipping the line. For one group next to us, they seemed to buy the guided tour that put them inline with the rest of us. 

One thing about this place is that it's very hard to find definitive information on how to find legitimate services. Even the Rick Steves guide book doesn't wrap it all up for you.

I can handle crowds when I'm prepared for them. People who aggressively try to sell you stuff is really outside my culture comfort.

Once inside, Nic and I dialed up the Rick Steves Coliseum tour podcast. If you don't have access to this podcast, you can just go home and watch Gladiator instead. They're about the same.

Making this stop in Rome, one needs to be prepared to share you space, especially with the Selfie Stick people trying to get the perfect smile combined with the  perfect background shot. 

Yes I blog. I took this picture of my wife.

The view from the second level shows how busy this place gets.

Looking outward towards the Ancient Roman Forum

The Arch of Titus, the entrance of the Forum.

The Basilica of Constantine. Emperor Constantine was the one who made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. In 380 AD, you were normally thrown to the lions for being a Christian. 20 years later, you were in the same boat for not being one.

Looking out onto the forum.

The door to the temple of Romulus.

The Night Tour

When we arrived in Rome, Nic and I made an effort to stay up to sync our clocks to Italy. In bed at 8, up for a bit here and there, did some blogging around 3am then back to bed...until 11am. We woke to rain but our hotel loaned us a pair of umbrella`s. We made it to the restaurant near the corner for some amazing Spaghetti Carbonara. But the wind had picked up and the sturdy umbrellas would only do so much. We returned to the hotel, determined to stay awake. 

We woke up again around 5pm. Thinking back to one of the last things I had said in my previous post, we went to the subway station and bought day passes. Mapping out a route of things to see at night, we'd spend the 6 hours traveling around Rome seeing what it had to offer lit up. 

We started at the farthest point and worked our way back towards the Coliseum near where our hotel is. 

Stop 1. St. Peters Square - Vatican. 

Fountain #1

 Fountain #2

St. Peters Basilica, the front view from the square. On Wednesday we do a tour of the Vatican Museums

 Looking outward towards the square. Yesterday was Sunday, so I guess they had a service here.

 Back onto the train we stopped at Piazza Del Popolo where the DeVinci museum is. uh-huh and onto the next thing.

 Hopping back on the train we visited the Piazza de Spagna or the Spanish steps. Nice views but some amazing Gelato to be had at shop near by. Nic and I had paid 15 euros for our pre travel dinner that evening. 16 euro's to 2 Gelato cones.Somewhere there is a meme about priorities but Nic and I just toasted to the good life and ate our Gelato on the steps. 

 Walked up the steps. Took a few pics and then it was time to move on.

 Back to Spagna station, one stop ahead to the Barberini station and a 10 minute walk to the Trevi fountain for our 2nd visit.

 After that we switched subway lines and went to the Coliseum.

 The Arch de Constantine.

 At the end of our visit here we ran into some trouble finding our way out. After some wrong turns we ended up near our hotel and got our bearings. Wanting to finish our mission we headed to the Piazza de Venezia again for visit 2. One picture later we were on our way back.

 But had to take some pics of the amphitheater on the way.

Tomorrow we use our passes to the Coliseum.

Only what you can carry

I'm not new to flying. Most of you know that. It still amazes me how the big companies can stuff a huge jet choker-block full of people plus all their shit and still get off the ground. The AC flight(787) from TO to ROME had no available seats or overhead baggage room.  I'm always somewhat surprised when the pilot rolls and it actually leaves the ground.

 It was mostly black out over the Atlantic. Around the time we were over Iceland the moon start to appear, purple which the horizon doing the same. I watch the Disaster Artist on the flight over but what was going on outside the window was more interesting.

 

We landed in Rome, took about 40 to get through Customs, get my bag, figure out the trains and get rolling into down. Nic found us a hotel near the Colosseum.  We got checked in, got sorted and then went for lunch at a place nearby. I had my first pizza in Rome and first ever Italian beer.  

Back at the hotel sleep was demanded but not granted. We forced ourselves to stay awake and shift time zones by doing a random walk. The Trevi fountain was our destination. I knew Rome was old. But old is everywhere here. Just walking to one site takes you past many others. The city is like one huge outdoor museum. I took pictures, but in most cases I don't even know what I'm looking at.

Rome as been built over other versions of itself since the beginning. Small excavation sites are everywhere near the Colosseum.

I'm not sure if it was a National Holiday today, we arrived in town on the date of a large Marathon run through Rome. We came across the military band doing it's thing.

 

 We made it to the Trevi fountrain (Nicola Salvi, 1762). Toss in a coin and make a wish. The coins go to Romes down and out.

 The Pantheon. We didn't go in. At the time we were trying to find Gelato for a short break.

 Piazza de Venezia. Sort of the centre of Rome. We headed in and climbed up through the stair cases to reach the terrace. The best views or Rome we to be had. I should like to do this day again but only at night.

All is well after our first day except to say that I'm getting the sense that I packed my huge Osprey bag rather poorly. 2 flannel shirts and 2 pairs of jeans and my spring jacket may be seldom used here. My new hiking shoes are too hot to leave on. The 66 litre back, which you'll understand for a 24 day trip, gets heavy. There is a good chance I'll be donating some of my easier to replace items in favor of more souvenirs and better mobility.

The temperature here today was perfect for a Canadian in shorts and sandals. We'll see how it goes.

Leaving from Water Front St

In with the New

While not as bad as 2016, 2017 wasn't the greatest year on record of my life. A continuation of the funeral pyre from the previous year along with a prolonged smoke wave that interdicted my ride season made last year another year that I was happy to see end. Nic and I also managed to end it on a whimper. We both got sick and spend Xmas and New Years coughing and making green balls of goo with our noses. Worst of all, the illness was my fault, as I not only made my wife sick, but my Mom too. Epic fail to end an epic fail of a year. 

Cancelling our new years party , then feeling well enough to send out olive branches to a few friends. No on showed and they all made the right call. Nic I and I rang in the new year with a repeat of the Kings Speech, then the Netflix originals "Bright" (8/10 started off amazing but didn't quite reach it's potential) and the newly release Dave Chappelle Comedy specials( 10/10 pure comic genous).

Not wanting to get wound up with all the keeners who surely be out on the trails on January 1st, getting their year off to the right start, we opted for an extra rest day before hiking Quary Rock on the 2nd. No pics but nothing really amazing from a foggy hike. 

On the 3rd we started our ride 2018 ride season however. Just a pangor lap was likely all our lungs would allow us before turning themselves inside out for spite.This was the start of my year, what I hope will be a great one. I sure need it.

Moving forward........again.