After viewing the baths, Greg and Marianne went off to shop for windbreakers. They returned to the hotel shortly afterward unable to locate any coats at all. Greg, Marianne, David and I got so busy in our free time that we forgot to order up any lunch. Before we knew it, Marianne alerted us that it was time to go meet the guide for our afternoon tour. Off we went; I with a banana in my purse and a truffle popped in the mouth.
Francesca met the six of us with our new driver of a small bus! They thought there would be eight of us today and were surprised to only find six. We made sure Francesca confirmed the pickup for Tuesday morning of Chris and Chrystal. All is well with the arrangements. It was not raining when we left but it looked like it could pour at any time. We started off our tour with the Coliseum. Francesca had the driver drive around the Coliseum ruins and she pointed out which parts of the Coliseum were original and which were restored. We went to the first level to get a good overall view. What history has occurred in this place! Once the gladiator days were over, the building was ransacked for the travertine marble, metal joints, and other building materials. Finally toward the end of the middle age, the ransacking was stopped and the remaining structure preserved to honor the Christians that were said to have been martyred during the games. We were also brought down to a lower level to see where the emperor’s section was located and to get a better view of the underground chambers where the animals were herded then lifted to an area just under the surface of the arena where trap doors would allow them to jump out into the open.
After viewing the Coliseum, we quickly drove over to the forum area. Francesca took us to several locations to view the forum ruins, including to the top of the Capitale hill where the oldest recorded museum is located called the Musea Capitali. David noted that he definitely wanted to include that museum as a stop during our next trip to Rome.
After leaving the forum, our driver took us around the historic areas of Rome while Francesca pointed out the sites including the buildings on each side of the Tiber river and the bridges from one side to the other. By that time, it was dark and we headed back to the hotel. We all agreed to begin our next day’s tour at 10 am to give Chris and Chrystal time to arrive from the airport and join us. I hope they both get some sleep on the plane because it will be another long day of tours.
Our dinner reservations were at the Imago restaurant that was found to be a high-end restaurant with a strict dress code requiring jackets and ties. Since all of us didn’t pack dress clothes for this portion of the trip, David met with the Concierge of the hotel to make other arrangements at a local Italian family-style restaurant. The weather was drizzly but not too cold so we walked the two blocks to the restaurant. It was a small, quaint little shop with good, not great food. It was a little let-down from the wonderful meal we had the night before, but we all ate our fill and returned to the hotel to get a good night’s sleep.
Tomorrow we will visit the Catacombs and the Vatican. If we can, we will try to slip in a repeat visit to the Pantheon since four of the groups haven’t had a chance to see it yet. We’ll see how it goes.
We are all well and happy, though tired and ready for bed.
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