Hello from Rome

We left about noon to allow plenty of time to get to Orlando. TSA was not as bad as I thought, no X-ray and no pat down. Took about 45 minutes to get through the lines. Since we didn't eat lunch and knew the plane dinner would not be served until at least 8:30, we had a nice mid afternoon meal at Outback on our concourse.
Flying to Europe is always very long and for me, I find it very hard if not impossible to sleep on a plane. There was a crying baby and three guys playing a dice game in the row next to me. The flight to Gatwick took 7 1/2hours and our layover was also7 hours, then another 2 hours to Rome, a train ride and then the walk to hotel. We were up for 30 hours.



From plane window, the Matterhorn in the Alps.
The Best Western Ambro Palace is really nice and only a few short blocks to the train station.



There is an open air Market right across the street from us that you can buy anything fresh. It is a very popular place. We slept in till 8:00 the next morning. Breakfast is included In our room price and it was really nice with eggs, breads, meats, fruit, cereal, yogurt and more. We ate more than enough to fuel us for a full day.
Sight seeing today brought us to the ancient part of Rome. We decided to take a tour so that we would get the history. Our guide was 81 years old.



Our guide

He was nice, but the young man who provided the tour 10 years ago, was much better.



The Flavian Amphitheater, better know as the Colosseum, was built between 75 and 80 BC. It is 188 meters long, 156 meters wide and 50 meters high. They used over 100,000 cubic meters or travertine stone which was placed without any mortar, Spacers od bronze s were inserted in spaces cut out of the blocks to allow for movement during earthquakes. Later, brick and mortar where added to help strengthen the walls from erosion. the oval amphitheater could hold 80,000 people. Below, wild animals were kept for the gladiators to kill.
They had counterweight elevators that would bring the animals up to the wooden floor. A wire mesh wall was erected around it to prevent any animals from getting at the crowds. Just in case they also sationed archers around the oval. Thfro had a cover that could be hoisted overe the top in case of bad weather. Shows were held here for four centuries with the last one held in 438 AD.
Next we walked along the ruins of the Forum.



The forum started out as one square that was a political center. Over time, emperors and conquerors would add more and more squares as the population grew. These squares held the senate building and shops and temples. Some of the temples were to Vesta, Vulcan, Saturn, Janus, Castor and Pollux. Rome was a very pagan place until the time of Constantine. The forum is also the site were the Vestal Virgins tended the flame to Vesta. Six girls from the age of 6-10 were chosen to keep the flame going at all times. If they let the flame go out, their punishment was to be buried alive. The girls had to remain virgins until they were 30 years old. It is believed that one of these virgins became the mother of Romulus and Remus. She was buried alive and her two sons were put in a basket and sent adrift on the Tiber river. Their cries were heard by a she wolf and the wolf nursed the babies. Romulus is the founder of Rome.
Until next time.....