Day Two--Ancient Rome

-
The Pantheon

Trevi Fountain

This is a war memorial--don't recall the exact name of the building

Trajan's Column

The Coleseum (and Josiah and me in the background)

I was disappointed not to see Russell Crowe there!



Part two of day two...this is like a TV miniseries. Actually, I thought about "The Thornbirds" a lot while in Rome. Don't ask.

Anyway, after our papal blessing, while we were still feeling all warm and holy, we hopped on the bus and proceeded to drive into the heart of Rome. Home of all things ancient and touristy. As you can see, we saw the Coleseum (which Hans informs me should properly be called Flavian Ampitheatre--boy, it never gets old being married to the world's foremost authority on everything), the ruins of the Forum, Trajan's Column, Trevi Fountain (yes, we threw our coins and in the correct direction), and the Pantheon.

Too bad it was Christmas and everything was closed. Another valuable lesson learned--Hans and I should have recalled from our Christmas honeymoon in London that everything would be closed.
Still, we did an amazing walking tour past all of these sites. As I've mentioned to several people, words really don't do it justice. These are places I've heard or read about my entire life and never thought I'd see in the flesh. It almost feels like a dream to have thrown my coin in the Trevi Fountain and walked on a road constructed by the Romans 2,000 years ago.
We left our walking tour at a Christmas market...the Italians certainly have a different type of market as compared to the Germans. The Italian market was more like a carnival, with a few rides, lots of balloons and booth after booth of various candy. I was hoping to find an ornament for my collection, but had no luck, though I did find a lovely one in Florence. Anyway, we went to find some supper (thank you McDonald's!) and then toured through the Christmas market. When we went to get a taxi back to the hotel, we found that we had almost no information but the name of the hotel--not enough for the taxi drivers. Thank God for Donna and the internet, otherwise we would still be wandering around Rome!
Thus concludes Christmas. Enjoy the pictures. Tomorrow I'll blog about our day inside the Coleseum and Forum and the great Gelato Fiasco of 2008.

Comments

Anonymous said…
This IS like a mini-series...I can't wait for the next installment. Gelato fiasco? I'm hooked...can't want to hear about that! Great pix. I'm glad you had your red coat on. You're easier to find/pick out. Very glad and proud that you're taking advanatage of seeing as much of the world as you can!
December 30, 2008 at 8:11:00 PM GMT+1
Pat said…
I love the adventures of Hans, Rachel, Josiah and Annika. When I was there I had the same feeling of it being surreal. Like you said it was everything that you read about or heard about. It was incredible to me how old everything was. Also, I was always trying to figure out how they could build these structures. I thought it was incredible. It is great to see the pictures and hear your take on the sights.
December 31, 2008 at 3:28:00 AM GMT+1
Anonymous said…
You mean the world's foremost authority on everything, who doesn't forget anything either. What a gift. Even though it is kind of bush league, I felt the same when I got to Washington DC the first time. I still think a novel of your adventures is in order. I have to move the pictures to the hard drive now, take care.
December 31, 2008 at 4:54:00 PM GMT+1
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sunday

-
Moody, cloudy Sunday morning in bed with coffee and a new book.  Wrapped up reading a book that could have been so much better, had the characters had a little more...character.  It was a skimmer, for sure.  As I've gotten older, I have given up the notion that all books were meant to be read start to finish.  I've waded in as much as a couple hundred pages before letting go and putting one down.  There are too many books and too little time to waste on a book that doesn't keep my attention. If the rain holds off, I'm looking forward to hooking up this cleaner spray to my hose and spraying my windows and siding.  I know, I know...life is so exciting, right?!  Have I described where I live, the pipestem?  That is the Virginia vernacular term for a little offshoot lane that branches from the main road, upon which are a few homes--in our neighborhood, probably 4-6 houses on each pipestem.  We have four.  Next to us is Car Hoarder Neighbo...
Read more

Cherry Blossom, Part II

-
Image
Tired of cherry blossoms yet?  Oh good, because here are a few more:     These are from just a few hours ago...the cherry blossom or sakura, is truly ephemeral.  The blossoms appear almost overnight and won't last more than a few days, depending on weather.  It's important to get out and appreciate them while you can.  The Japanese actually have a term, hanami, for the "sport" of viewing sakura and there are many, many places in Japan where people flock to see sakura in breathtaking settings.   I'll settle for CFAY, since I'm still single parenting and the Japanese school children are on spring holiday, so the crush would be intense anywhere we would go.  If you saw my last post, you know I had to bribe the kids with ice cream for a two hour trip down to Miurakaigan to view the blossoms a couple of weekends ago.   It's been a busy couple of weeks.  I had a new class start up, just the other half o...
Read more

This is 45

-
I think I need to get into it a little more to really FEEL it, but this is 45.  Middle of the road?  Maybe.  Both of my grandmothers made it past 90, so we shall see. All of the most important people in my life wished me a happy birthday today, including the adorable people who made me and brought me into this world.  It is my habit now to thank THEM for my birthday, because let's be honest, if that man didn't love that woman, I wouldn't be here,  right now.  Thanks, guys...totally, 100% serious. The Captain was out of town for my birthday weekend, he got back at supper tonight, unerringly arriving just in time to sit down and eat.  It's really OK.  I started out my weekend on Friday at my favorite shopping joint, then returned home, changed into sweatpants and settled in for some trash TV watching (in this case, the completely stupid "90 Day Fiancee" (don't get into it, it's like watching a car wreck that you could see coming miles away))....
Read more