Our First Adventures with Roma

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It is hard to believe we have been here for 3 days now.  We are staying in Campo dei Fiore. It part of ancient a Rome where the streets all curve, have cobblstone and you have to stand against the wall when a car goes by.  Our apartment is amazing, it is in very old building with marble staircases and stained glass panels it has 2 bedroom and is fully furnished with kitchen, w/d and internet. Yesterday, we walked over to the Colosseum and came accross a tour group from Romaround Tours.  They lead you in pass the crowds and right to the entrance, very worth it as the lines were outrageous.  We learned that entrance to the Colosseum was free to all the Roman people; it was the Emperors way of crowd control, and that it was finished in 8 years since it was divided into slices so each family was competing against each other in finishing their section. Upon opening they had games for 100 days and killed about animals and 900 people and the spectators brought perfume to the smell.  Recycling was big back then as most of St. Peters Square  marble taken from the Colosseum and all the holes one sees in the walls is where the iron was removed in order to make weapons, it was never bombed as one initially thinks.

From there they took us over to the Foro Romano.  This place was amazing, it was hard to believe it was in the middle of Rome. It was tranquil and peaceful.  We heard about the starting of Rome between the two brothers Romulus and Remus and the Palatine Hill, saw ruins of the Emperors bath houses, the original city hall.  This building had the highest arches and windows of any other building in Rome. Upon the fall of Rome, supposedly the knowledge of how to construct this buildings was lost until after the middle ages.

For dinner we walked and walked to find this Osteria recommended by two New York Chefs, we got there at 1045 and all the could offer us was 2 dishes.  I had the Osso Buco with p eas and it was great, but the tiramisu won our heart for the evening.

Today we went on another tour with Romearound tours of the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and St. Peters Basilica. Our tour guide was Ian from Scotland and made the 3 hour journey well worth it.   I learned that the Vatican has Vatican FM (vaticanfm.com)which broadcasts daily, they have their own post and stamps and have official Facebook and Twitter pages. The Sistine Chapel was the highlight as expected, what I plan to look into are the stories Ian gave us about Michelangelo and his paintings.  He pointed out quite a few places where Michelangelo was poking fun at the Pope who commissioned him.  Some may be true, who knows.  What was most  unexpected for me was how emotional I got when I saw where Pope John Paul was buried.  Memories of my grandmothter watching him on TV for Easter and Christmas mass came flooding back. She would sit and watch so intensely. The little I  know about the Pope and the Church I learned from her.

Tomorrow we are off to Sienna. I get to drive us out of Rome, that is going to be an adventure.