Rome: Older Than My Last Name

Rome is an incredible city, and those goes without saying.  Modern Romans pass by 2000 year old structures like it's no big deal...because there are so many of them!

Our first day was filled with some of these ancient sites.  We began it strong with the symbol of Rome, the Colosseum.  It was exhilarating walking where senators, emperors, and gladiators walked and admiring the ingenuity that went into building the colossal Colosseum with ancient tools.

 

 

  

Arch of Triumph

As we were on the second level, I made the observation to Eric that the walls we were passing are older than his last name.  "Your last name too, Bardin" he retorted.  He calls me that when I'm laying on the "sassitude," as he calls it.

This guy's got sassitude, too.

Right after the Colosseum, we made our way to the Roman Forum.  My advice:  Get the Roma Pass.  It's worth it.  It lets you into the first two sites you visit for free and gives you reduced/concessionary prices for basically all other sites in Rome (doesn't include Vatican sites).  The Colosseum ticket includes the Roman Forum and Palantine Hill, so we used that as our first free entrance.  We used our second on the Palazzo Valentini (coming up).

The Roman Forum was once the city center of Rome.  There, we saw ruins of a few temples, the place where Julius Caesar was burned (and where he was warned to beware the ides of March in Shakespeare's play), and statues of Vestal Virgins.  Without educating yourself, it all looks like a pile of rocks.  To figure out what made one pile of rock different from the rest, we listened to Rick Steves' audio guide with his free app. (More information about the app here.)  It brought the forum alive and made it 100% more entertaining than it would it have been.

Arch of Titus built by Jewish POWs.

  

Temple of Caesar

Julius Caesar's body was burned here.

 

After walking around the forum and after sufficiently quoting Julius Caesar ("Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears."  "Beware the ides of March!"  "E tu, Brute?"), we made our way up to Palentine Hill.  We didn't spend too much time there.  It's interesting, walking among the ruins of old Roman homes and buildings, and the views of the city are great from up there, but it wasn't as fun as the forum.

The best view of Palentine Hill.

 

Later in the day, we visited Palazzo Valentini.  Underneath the building, archeologists excavated the remains of a few Roman homes.  During the tour, we stood on glass above it all, and parts of the rooms lit up as they were explained.  Photography wasn't allowed, but I am able to share a few photos of Trajan's Column that was highlighted during the tour.  Trajan's Column is located in the middle of an excavation site right across the street form the Altar of the Fatherland and behind the Palazzo Valentini.  It tells the story of the conquest of Dacia, now Romania.

 

Neptune coming up to show his approval of the conquest.

On their way to Romania, a guy fell off his mule.  Trajan 
took this as a good omen and had it put on his column.

The next day, we went into the Pantheon, which has the largest (still) unsupported dome in the world.  This was built in the second century AD; it's amazing how it's all in one piece to this day.

 

We also visited the National Museum of Rome.  The museum houses statues, mosaics, frescoes, jewelry, coins, etc. of ancient Rome.

    

 

Hidden Mickey on a sarcophagus.

...and here's what Eric was doing the whole time.

  

In his defense, earlier that day he was a trooper when I dragged him through the Borghese Gallery three times.