Day 2 European Discovery

Day 2

Rome, Italy

Sunday 12.6.2011

Welcome to Europe! Your delegation Manager, Bernard Fellner, and Motor Coach Drive, Roberto, will greet you at the airport! (Actually we had two different motor coach drivers, one day each and then we started with Roberto the rest of the trip.)

Continue your day with a Delegation Manager guided city walk to trace the steps of the leader Julius Cesar and gain some insight into his life. Explore the Bohemian side of town, called “Trastevere.”

1:30 PM Enjoy your first real Italian meal!

Join your guide at the bigletteria of the Colosseum.

Bernhard took us to the City Center and showed us around the area. We had a few minutes to walk around on our own. From here we walked to where we would have lunch.

After lunch we walked to the Colosseum. Lunch was pizza and salad, actually a very good lunch. I am noticing as always I am going to miss having ice in water, air-conditioning in facilities. Bernhard said that people in Europe believe that air-conditioning is not good for your health. Very apparent.

We had quite a walk to the Colosseum. It is quite hot here, a bit uncomfortable, but we were lucky, Bernhard let us change at the airport upon our arrival. It was great getting out of our travel clothes. I have never had a chance to do that in all my travels. Wonderful. A bit refreshing.

We arrive at the Colosseum, what a magnificent site. It is huge! Our guide had lots of information about it but it was a bit difficult to understand her and sometimes hear the information. The history of this area is unending.

In the Colosseum, animals were killed in the morning, then Christians were put in with the animals and usually killed, then the gladiators fought in the afternoon. The gladiators could become quite rich if they continued to live, if they survived the ring. They could even gain their freedom in this way. Of course around the Colosseum was a big party, it was a day's or weeks event when the Colosseum was in full swing.

There was different levels for the different classes of people, rich to poor, that would watch and at the top was a covered part with a large canopy.

Under the Colosseum was the place they kept the animals, gladiators, etc. The guide said there 60 – 70 gates and around 500 people working down there to keep it running. It was a huge area.

There was a time in the beginning, before they had the area under the Colosseum that they flooded it but not very many times.

After the Colosseum we walked over to the Forum. This was also a magnificent place. This was where the Roman Senate was held and there was something know as the Vestal Virgins, and there was a house for them as well. The Vestal Virgins were priestesses of Vesta, goddess of the hearth. The college of Vestals and its well-being was very important in Rome. They did not have do follow the usual social obligations to get married and have children and had to take a vow of chastity. They had to study and observe state rituals, etc. during their lifetime. They were committed at an early age and their commitment ran for 30 years; 10 years as students, 10 years in service, 10 years as teacher. Afterward they could get married if they chose to.

Some of Rome's most noteworthy highlights are for you! Your guide will take you through the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. The city of Rome, with its antique monuments and religious sites, has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

6:30 PM Enjoy your dinner!

Dinner was quite a long walk. It consisted of Rice misture and Potato cake.

After dinner we had to walk to the bus then a 30 minute bus ride to the hotel. Once arriving at the hotel we distributed keys (about 8:30). Everyone was dog tired and so bed checks were set at 9:30 in hopes to give everyone a good nights sleep.

Nice hotel, air-conditioned, etc. Once again I was reminded that we were not in Kansas anymore when attempting to get hot water for coffee the next morning. In Europe things don't get going normally until 7:00 or so. An early bird like me, 5:30, has to fend for themselves. :)

We will have two nights at this hotel.

Tomorrow Wake-up was 7:30, Breakfast at 8:15 andt then bus by 8:50.

Breakfast was in the hotel; cold cereal, milk, orange juice, cold meats, croissants or bread, coffee....

Spend your overnight at the Torre Pratolungo Roma.

Rome

Rome ('Roma'), the capital of Italy, is known as the “Eternal City” because of its great antiquity. For centuries it was the most powerful city in Europe, capital first of the might Roman Empire, then of the Roman Catholic Church, which ruled Rome until the Vatican City was created as a separate sovereign state in 1929. Rome's compact and historic center is full of landmarks, such as the Roman Forum, the Pantheon, and the Coliseum. Christianity, born in the dying days of the Empire, contributed Rome's mosaic-filled churches – among them “Santa Maria Maggiore” and “San Pietro in Vincoli” - and its catacombs. The patronage of Renaissance popes gave the city its fountains – including the famous Trevi fountain, its statues,and its art-filled museums, such as the Borghese Gallery, while the people of Rome, vivacious and cosmopolitan, give the city, with its stylish shops and restaurants, its lively modern-day character.

Coliseum

Rome's Coliseum (“Anfiteatro Flavio”), magnificent in partial ruin, oblong amphitheater dating from 72 AD. Here gladiators fought, wild animals were slaughtered, and when the central area was flooded, sea battles also took place. It is ringed by triple rows of arches, with sloping terraces within for seating.

Roman Forum

The Roman Forum (“Foro Romano”), packed with ruins, jumbled and often confusing, is one of the key sites of Ancient Rome. This former commercial, religious, and political center of the Roman Republic lies just Southeast of the Capitoline Hill. Here the Senate House, shops, triumphal arches, monumental columns, and temples vied for space, rising on either side of the famous “Via Sacra” or Sacred Street.

Pantheon

This magnificent, if somber “temple of all the gods”, now a church, acquired its present form under Emperor Hadrian in about 125 AD. With a vast dome – one of the great architectural achievements of antiquity – a circular chamber, and a porch with 16 mighty granite columns, it is astonishingly complete. The tombs of Raphael and Victor Emmanuel II, unifier of modern Italy, are here.