Day 77 ~ Rome, the Eternal City

April 9, 2018

Rome is the city of echoes, the city of illusions, and the city of yearning.
~ Giotto di Bondone

Might I add, the city with puddles deep enough to swallow a VW. The DH and I felt as though we’d tumbled in a Monet painting that was dissolving in the rain this morning.

But Rome was a bucket list destination for me, one of the reasons this itinerary excited me so, and the first excursion we booked after we decided to take this world cruise. I wasn’t about to let a little liquid sunshine keep me from venturing out.

So we donned our hooded windbreakers (Thanks again to Teresa Skeim, our excellent TA with Cruise Specialists for sending them to us as a bon voyage gift!). We packed our umbrellas, stowed travel Herkimer (my portable oxygen concentrator) and spare batteries in his hopefully water-resistant backpack, and boarded the bus for the hour and a half trip from Civitavecchia to Rome.

Our first stop was the Coliseum, so named because originally there was a bronze “colossus” standing before the structure. It was the place where Roman emperors placated their restive public with “bread and circuses.” Food and entertainment was offered there for free—spectacles, gladiatorial contests, and public executions. But like all good politicians, the rulers found a way for the people to pay for their freebies themselves. Entrance to the coliseum, bread and attractions were indeed free, but using the public toilets inside was not! (Multiply that by 70,000 visitors three times a day and it was a real moneymaker for the imperial government!)

The center of the arena was once covered with a wooden floor. A layer of sand filled the arena, the better to soak up blood. (There is a streak of revisionist history making the rounds now that says it was mostly animal blood. Gladiators were the primo athletes of their day, too expensive to sacrifice with much regularity and, according to our guide Philipo, Christians were martyred elsewhere. Not sure which version to believe.) Looking down into the arena, you can see the labyrinth of cells and cages that were below the wooden floor.

The Romans were practical people. After the circuses were long gone, the coliseum was used as a church for a time. As a rock quarry for other building projects. As a source of iron. (There was no mortar to seal the space between the large limestone slabs that formed the outer columns, so they were clamped in place with iron. Most of the iron has been stolen over the centuries, leaving the stone pock-marked, but still standing.) The coliseum was also used as a place to post advertisements. This phallic symbol etched into the stone shows the way to a nearby brothel.

At this point, we had an uphill, up-staircases, several block hike in a downpour to rejoin with our bus. Water was falling in sheets and washing over the roadways we had to scamper across, dodging oncoming traffic and avoiding being totally baptized by the splash tossed up by vehicles. It was what we in the Ozarks would call a “frog-strangling rain.” And Philipo, bless his young legs, took it at a sprinter’s pace. I had to stop once to let my O2 sats catch up to my racing heart.

Then we were off to the Trevi Fountain. And of course, the square where it’s located was far too small to accommodate our bus. The DH and I decided to remain in the bus while the rest of the group trudged back into the rain and down several blocks to toss in their coins. It’s not that I wouldn’t have liked to see it, but by that time we were so wet and chilled, it just didn’t seem worth it and I was concerned that Herkimer might be getting too damp. Granted, he was tucked into his padded backpack, under the DH’s windbreaker (and my umbrella as often as I could hold it over him) but there’s a danger that he might short out if he gets too wet. (Several returning passengers told us we’d made the right choice to skip the fountain. Even without fretting over the welfare of medical equipment, they didn’t find the fountain worth the soggy slog!)

Our next stop was the Grand Palace Hotel for a three course lunch! Our table mates were Laura and Russ. These feisty nonagenarians climbed the Sydney Harbor Bridge and have been known to take the stairs on the PP two at a time. They’re kind of my heroes! (Remember them because they figure prominently in our adventures in the Vatican Museum which I’ll share tomorrow because this post is turning into War & Peace!)

And our table of six was rounded out by Linda (whose name I remember because I have a sister of the same name) and her hubby (whose name escapes me, but he’s half the amateur comedy duo that’s sprung up from Table 22! A very funny guy. The DH says his name is Tom, but he’s usually worse than me about remembering names.)

We were worn and bedraggled and totally looked out of place in the elegant art deco dining room, but it was nothing a little champagne, wine and excellent food couldn’t fix. After our restful lunch, we were ready to take on Rome once more.

I’ll finish our adventures tomorrow…