Finally! The Colosseum and the Foro Romano

We'd been promising Charlotte a visit inside the Colosseum since we arrived here at the start of September. Now that the heat has receded and the crowds have thinned, the time was right. We booked a guide and met him at 10am in front of the statue of Marcus Aurelius at the Campidoglio. We really wanted to have a guide to help bring the history of ancient Rome alive for the kids. It worked for Charlotte, but Olivia and Avery just played "grab-ass" or whined for most of the three plus hour tour.

Our guide was terrific, very-knowledgeable, and had many interesting facts about Roman history to impart. The city was founded in the 8th century BC. We learned so much I can't even begin to summarize it all. First we walked down the Via dei Fori Imperiali -- on Sundays the wide boulevard becomes a pedestrian avenue closed to traffic. We noted the features of the various Emperors from their replica statues that line the Street, and then we entered the Foro Romano. This entire area was once marshy and mosquito infested as it was originally at the level of the Tiber. The ruins you see here today are ruins as a result of the Romans' own destruction of the magnificent temples. After the fall of the Empire, and subsequent conversion to Christianity, in the 16th century the Romans pilfered the pagan temples and reused the marble to build churches -- Saint Peter's chief among them. At one time, at the peak of the Empire in the 2nd century, there were two million people living between the Palatine, Capitoline and Quirinale hills in the heart of Rome. Today, the residents of Rome proper within this same region number approximately 160,000!

First, we visited the Curia which was the site of the ancient senate..it's beautiful orignal marble floor only discovered more recently due to excavations of the last century. (It had been used as as church with the entrance 30 meters higher than the original senate floor). Then, we moved on to see the tomb of Julius Caesar, the Temple of Castor, and the house of the Vestal Virgins. Several well preserved arches also lie in the Forum, The Arch of Septimius Severus, The Arch of Augustus and the The Arch of Titus. The latter, with the relief of the Jews carrying the Menorah after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.

We then we walked up to the Palatine Hill, home to all the Roman Emperors, where we had a great view of once massive Basilica of Maxentius in the Forum. Up on the hill, we saw the elaborate home of Augustus with it's central courtyard. On the other side of the Palatine, we had an amazing view of the impressive oval field that was once Circus Maximus - where the four-horsed chariot races took place - as well as the beautiful Aventine hill.

Finally, we walked down to the Colosseum entrance where the first thing we did was go to the bathroom! We had been "touring" for three hours. Avery had already had a brief nap at the top of the Palatine Hill, and things were looking up. The fits of "I can't walk anymore" had dissipated and he was now happily playing with the stones on the floor. We listened to our guide give us an overview of the construction and scale of the Colosseum while we were looking through one of its 80 gates, and then we went in. Our guide was regaling us with tales about the numbers of lions and other exotic beasts that were killed here, along with the number of fallen gladiators when all of a sudden there was an announcment on the loudspeaker. It was alarming. "Will Josh and Anita Rosenberg report to the ticket booth!" We looked at each other, then we looked around...where was Avery?

As it turns out Avery was at the ticket booth with a smile on his face. Apparently, he never followed us in to the Colosseum. The ticket man told Josh that Avery wanted to make the announcement on the loudspeaker himself! He was never afraid and he never cried. Amazing. That announcement was the only one we heard come over the loudspeaker the entire afternoon! (We would never have known a loud-speaker even existed)

Now, having compled our tour at the Colosseum, we were faced with the long, arduous journey back to the car. Or, as it were, the long, arduous wait for Josh and Charlotte to walk back and retrieve the car!

All starving (who forgot the snacks??), we beat it home for a make shift lunch at 3pm!! Afterwards, I took my parents to shop near the Castel Sant'Angelo.

My Mom made pork loin for dinner; I made the potatoes. It was nice to have a family dinner on the last night of their visit (Charlotte had been at swim practice on our other evenings at home). We celebrated the trip with a "spritz" cocktail -- although my Mom preferred the Prosecco straight up.

We had some fun before bedtime. It had been a very full and rewarding visit.