We walked around to the Spanish steps with a fountain like a leaking boat. We didn’t know we’d reached the steps yet because they were covered in people and seemed too close to the Trevi fountain. We walked up them and watched men giving roses to women and asking their husbands/boyfriends for some small change- a pretty sad scam. There were also illegal vendors running from the police like in Paris. We went into the Trinti de Monti church at the top of the steps. We went into a small round church in Popolo piazza where people were riding on segways. There was a statue of Rimus and Romulus sucking of the wolf devil. We into the huge green space at the north of the city and looked out over Rome with all the church domes and St Peters on the skyline behind the almost setting sun. We walked back past the Spanish steps to the Main Train terminal. We got on a bus the bends in the middle which was packed. We had to stand up the whole time and it was probably faster to walk but we were too tired. We spent the whole time trying to work out how the bus checks everyone has validated their ticket.
We didn’t walk into the centre today but took the bus to St Peters Basilica. There was a massive crowd hundreds of people in the circular Piazza. After looking twice was saw the Pope was sitting out the front. He was wearing white robes and his little cap and glasses when he was reading. We went through a little security check and past the Swiss Guards in Jester costumes to some empty seats. There were priests announcing all the pilgrims and visitors who had come to met the Pope from every country. There was no on from New Zealand. People waved flags and cheered when they were announced. The Pope spoke Italian, Spanish, English and German. He could also sing! When the Audience of the Pope was finished we walked around the walls of the Vatican city while all the people were leaving. After lunch we went back to the Piazza and saw the amazing front of the Basilica and huge dome. The line to get in was growing around the Piazza. We decided to walk around and come back later or the next day. We walked beside one of the many huge walls around Rome to Angelo Castle and Fortress. We walked past lots of Indians trying to sell us camera tripods and African masks. When in rained later that day they quickly converted there stall to an Umbrella one. We walked across the river to the Navonna Piazza. The sun was lighting up the cafes and fountains. There were artist painting Rome and Caricatures, others were just selling prints. We walked across to the Pantheon. I was half covered in Restoration sheets like some of the other buildings in Rome. The Doric Pillars were really tall and covered the front of the building. The outside of the massive dome was pretty ugly and the inside (like many things in Rome) is converted into a church. We walked to ‘Area Sacra Argentina’ which was a pit of roman ruins and cats. We walked back to St Peter’s Basilica and pasted the ‘Direzione Nazionale Antimafia’ with lots of fast cop cars in front. The line to get in twice as long as when we left but we joined the queue anyway. It was a lot shorter than it looked and we had to hide our picnic knife in a mayonnaise jar by the rubbish bin before we went through security. We walked up the steps and into the Basilica. It was the biggest and flashest church we’ve been to yet. There were so many decorations over the walls it was hard to focus on one thing. The ceiling was a golden pattern and the floor was a coloured marble pattern. To the right was the statue by Michelangelo of the Lady holding the man behind bullet-proof glass. There were big statues of all the Popes, baby angels and doves . There was a tall canopy with twisted wooden poles over the Altar. There was a mass going on in the very front of the huge building. Only people with the orange tickets from the Audience in the morning were allowed in, we watched some tourists trying to dash into the front. We went to the Vatican City post office and wrote a letter to our Oma. We took the Bus back to the campground but missed our stop and had to walk back to the gate.
On our third day in Rome we took the bus to the Colosseum. The huge Amphitheatre was blocking out the sun til we walked around it. We couldn’t find the entrance so we walked all the way around and stopped at some toilets. They we controlled by a neat-freak/control-freak who tried to stuff us all in the same cubicle. We found the entrance with a long line coming out of it. It took a while for Mum to explain that we were EU citizens and New Zealanders but we made in through the ticket barriers in the end. We then walked into the centre and out to the exit. Turning around we realised we’d missed out the top level and went up some steep stairs. There was a little exhibit of broken marble statues and graffiti of gladiators etched by the spectators. There were some information panels explaining what happened at the Colosseum like Gladiators fights, Christians being eaten by wild beasts and how the stage could be flooded for boat shows and fights. We couldn’t go up the very top to the outer wall which only went half way around the Colosseum and we couldn’t go to the deck where the Gladiators fought. The dungeons and tunnel below the stage were exposed. We listened in to little parts of guided tours and learnt about interesting things.
We we’d had enough we went outside and there were Gladiators dressed up outside. We walked past the Arch of Constantine. We wished we’d got our tickets for the Colosseum (which included Palatine Hill and the Roman forum) at the Palatine Entrance because the line was 5min. We had lunch under a tree.
We then walked around old ruins of a palace and gardens. It was huge and we didn’t have enough time to look at every broken pillar and wall. We could see Circus Maximo-the Chariot racing track that could set 350,000 spectators. It looked like an uneven landing strip and was being used as an Army base with lots of helicopters parked. We went into the Museum on top of the hill which was full of broken marble statues with their penises broken off. We walked up to what used to be a big palace or temple and had a great view of the Colosseum. We then walked down to the Arch of Titus and had another great view of he Colosseum under an olive tree. We then walked through the Roman Forum. It was a graveyard of marble lumps and forests of pillars. Julius Caesar’s tomb was under a mound of dirt. We went into an exhibit of more marble ruins and there was some Chinese figures from the Han Dynasty that looked very out of place. We walked behind a huge white building with huge steps leading up to pillars holding up flyuing horses. It was called the Vittorio. We walked through Campidoglio Piazza surrounded by Roman Museums. We then went into a church also behind the Vittorio that was made of recycled Roman ruins. We ended up walking down through the Vittorio and past Venezia Piazza. We went back to Trevi founatin and threw some coins into the pond to bring us back one day. We stopped at a little souvenir shop a bought a plaster Colosseum and other things. We then sat on the Spanish steps at dark and had some chips. We were constantly harassed by street sellers trying to sell us light up toys and Cashmere Scarves. We ended up walking almost all the way back to the Main Train Terminal looking for a Bus Stop. We took the Bus but to LGP and got on an empty one so we could sit down. We made our own pizza’s that night and talked about Rome.
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