Up at 7 am to a beautiful blue sky. Lots of hot water for showers, then over to the breakfast room at 9 to meet Carole & LeVerne. Pound cake (bundt), croissants, Danish, cheese and yogurt, along with as much American coffee (double expresso with lots of milk) as you wanted, all prepared by the small staff that hosted us.

At 10 am we struck off for our day’s touring. The route Carole planned was the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Capitoline Hill.

  
click picture to enlarge

After a 20-minute walk from our hotel we arrived at our first destination of the day, the Colosseum. After walking around the entire site and checking it out from the outside we decided to take the plunge and sign up for the deluxe “official” tour of the Colosseum, complete with an English-speaking guide. This also included admission to the Roman Forum afterwards.

      
      
click picture to enlarge

Our Colosseum tour covered the main, underground and third levels. The first level explained the entrances, the arena floor and gave an overview of the seating, etc.

      
      
  
click picture to enlarge

The underground level consisted of two levels. One of the underground levels held the chambers for the gladiators, the winch systems used to hoist the animal cages up to the arena floor for release and the rail system that brought the animal cages into the Colosseum from a location several hundred yards from the building. The second underground level held the staging area for the gladiators and accommodated access to the hundreds of staff needed to make the games happen. The third level gave you an aerial view of the building.

      
      
      
      
click picture to enlarge

The tour lasted 1 ½ hours and pretty much covered off everything you wanted to know about the Colosseum. After exiting, we walked over to the Arco di Constantino which was built to commemorate the defeat of Judea. From there we entered the Roman Forum which was the seat of centralized power. The Palatino and other ruins make up the Forum. After an hour or so exploring, we made our way to the Capital building and Piazza del Campidoglio, the square Michaelangelo designed.

      
      
      
        
click picture to enlarge

As it was now midafternoon and we had no other sites on our list for the day, we made our way over to the Piazza Navona (about a 15-minute walk). By the time we arrived at the square there was a major cleanup going on from what appeared to be a large farmers market earlier in the day. We stopped for an American coffee and cake at Sam’s bar in the square.

  
click picture to enlarge

By now it was approaching 4 o’clock and as it was going to be dark in an hour or so, we thought we should start to make our way back to the hotel. Planned on stopping in at the Pantheon which looked to be more or less on the way. Striking off with GPS in hand, we started our trek home. Winding thru the narrow streets which blocked the GPS signal most of the way we kept a general heading which was taking us more or less in an easterly direction. Not having much hope we’d find the Pantheon, Carole asked directions from a Polizia Municipale and to our delight he indicated it was just around the corner.

We were not prepared for the Pantheon, sitting by itself in the middle of a commercial district with no other antiquities close by. The square in front allowed you to get a sense of its size but walking inside was overwhelming. Among the ancient classic buildings, the Pantheon is the best preserved as a result of its transformation into a Church (Saint Mary and the Martyrs) in 609. The original structure was constructed between 27 and 25 BC by Marcus Vipsanio Agrippa to celebrate Augustus and was dedicated to the main deities of the Julio-Claudian family. The present building was reconstructed during Emperor Hadrian’s time (118-125 AD). A huge cylindrical wall (the Rotonda) over 6 meters thick supports the monumental vault, the largest dome made of Roman concrete, with a diameter of 43.30 meters and equal in height.

      
    
click picture to enlarge

After a ½ hour at the Pantheon, we resumed our trek home. By now it was dark and we were anxious to get back to the hotel. However, after 10 minutes of walking we stumbled into a small square with a fountain and a ton of people. Not really knowing what treasure we had discovered, LeVerne & Carole asked a couple of fellow tourists and we were informed we had arrived at the Fontana di Trevi.

  
click picture to enlarge

Everything was lit up at the fountain and in the streets around. Lots of activity with a good number of tourists, open shops and lots of restaurants. But it was now past 6 o’clock and our group of weary travellers had had enough. Totally putting our faith in the GPS, we struck out with a purpose and actually walked right up to our hotel after 10 minutes or so.

Shoes off and feet up. Recounting the days adventure, we relaxed in our room for an hour or so sipping a Limoncino (lemon liqueur) Lee and I had picked up along the way today. We had put in a 5.6 kilometer walk today.

At 7:30 we again struck out to find a restaurant which came highly recommended by our hotel clerk. After an easy ten-minute walk we found it, went down the stairs and sat at the first table inside the door. Not busy at all when we arrived but started to fill up by 8. A litre of the house red wine, an appetizer of olives and main courses of veal scaloppini for Lee & I, roasted ¼ chicken for Carole and a breaded veal for LeVerne. Finished up with a desert cake.

  
click picture to enlarge

Back to the Oceania by 9 pm and off to bed at 11. Great day.

  
click picture to enlarge