Monday, September 7,
2015
We met our tour guide for the day, Salvadore, at 9AM to
begin the Imperial Rome Tour and the Walking City Tour. From the outset, I will
note that Salvadore was spectacular. He was knowledgeable, engaging, attentive
to our questions and passionate about what he is doing. He loves to explain
things and teach us about Rome and all the sight we were seeing.
Our first stop was the Flavian Amphitheater, better known to
commoners as the Coliseum. I could go on for a long time about how amazing and
large this structure is, but I will keep it brief and get to the most
interesting point at the end. It seated 65-75,000, had toilet facilities, had
vendors walking around selling wine and bread and had 64 portals for entry and
exit. Each patron reserved a seat for free and received a stone ticket with the
portal entry number. The inaugural celebration lasted 100 days and went for 24
hours per day. There were 4000 gladiators and 9000 animals that died in the
various games/battles over the course of those 100 days. There is also a stroke
of genius that the Romans invented with this Coliseum – the sky box. The
Emperor had one at the middle of the arena, and directly across from the
Emperor was one for the vestal virgins.
We saw the Roman Forum and learned its history; saw where
St. Peter was imprisoned while in Rome; saw the National monument celebrating
the unification of Italy and the official beginning of Italy as a country that
we know today. Amazing, Italy as the country we know today was only formed in
1861 – younger than the US! The Italians have a long history of difficulty
getting themselves organized.
We had lunch on the Pizza Nuvona – what the Italians call
calzone, which is nothing more than a pizza folded in half. We also experienced
our first $7 Coke (a 10 oz. bottle nonetheless!). There are three large
fountains on a large plaza. We continued our walking tour after lunch with Salvadore.
Our first stop was the Pantheon (pan = many; theos = gods)
[Note: For the commoners, this is NOT the Parthenon as in Athens]. It started
as a Roman temple (built 2000 years ago), but was converted to a Christian
church at the fall of the Roman Empire. It is the largest dome in the world (by
some measures), and you may know about it because they ran out of concrete and
left a big hole at the top (actually, this was be design). The Romans made one
enormous set of forms out of wood for the inner and outer walls, and then it
was a single, continuous pour of concrete for about 100 days (eat your heart
out John Zehner!!). By the way, for you art lovers, Raphael, the very famous
Renaissance artist and architect, is buried there.
We went to the best coffee shop in Rome and our tour guide,
Salvadore, was so proud to bring us there. Unfortunately, none of us drink
coffee … but alas, Chan and Michelle noted that they could become coffee
drinkers if they had such coffee to drink on a regular basis. We went to the Basilica
San Ignazio di Loyola. It is hailed as the greatest example of artistic
illusion because it has flat ceilings, but it looks like the ceilings are
rounded arches and that there is actually a very high dome. We next went to the
Trevi Fountain, often described as the most beautiful fountain in the world
(sculpted by Bernini and it is very large) … but it was shut down due to
restoration. So, we saw the fabulous design, but there was no flowing water …
much to our chagrin. We asked for a refund from the Department of Tourism in
Italy, but we are still waiting for an answer to our appeal. Their initial
response was like all things in Italy – we will get back to you next year.
The rest of the afternoon went well, and Salvadore wants to
come to the United States so he can vote. He and many European our pretty
disgruntled with the lack of US involvement and leadership in the Middle East.
There was a secluded restaurant on the Piazza San Ignazio
that got the recommendation of Salvadore, so we returned for dinner there. It
was very authentic Italian and the waiter noted that, “I will give you splendid dining experience.” He then offered,
“I bring some appetizers to share.” We decided to go with the flow and ‘have
the experience’ so we agreed. Nine dishes, a bottle of wine and 1 hour and 15
minutes later, we told him to call off the appetizers and bring us a dinner
menu. We were so full that we ordered small dinners and another bottle of wine.
Of course, we saved room for some desserts. When we got the bill after a 2
hours and 30 minute meal, it came on a scratch pad piece of note paper that was
dropped on the table:
60
58
34
16
20
188 !!
Tim took one look, and asked for an explanation, but the
waiter had already turned away. A little later, Tim tried to get the waiter’s
attention as he walked by and ask for an explanation, but the waiter walked by
without stopping. Tim was now on a mission. When the waiter walked by the next
time, Tim asked for an explanation and the waiter turned away only to be
grabbed (tactfully I might add) by Tim, who asked a bit sternly for a more
detailed description of the bill. The waiter tersely pointed to each number and
said, “Appetizers, wine, dinner, desserts, gratuity. I give the experience and
tell you the number; you pay the bill!” Then he walked away, and we paid the
bill.
It was a bit of a long walk to our hotel at about 10PM. We
had to walk up many steps, then we walked up a hill to get to the hill we had
to walk up to get to our hotel. It is said that Rome was built on seven hills;
we have walked up at least eight.
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