More walking in Rome

We took advantage of the “B” in our B&B and had a lovely breakfast in our room, served by Laura’s assistant, Lalith.

We had a tour of Domus Aurea in the morning. After the fire destroyed Rome in 64 D, Nero decided to build himself a new palace. It occupied part of the Palatine and most of the Celian and Esquiline hills-an area 25 times the size of the Colosseum. The vestibule contained a huge gilded statue of Nero, 120 feet high. There was an artificial lake with gardens and woods with imported wild animals roaming free. According to Suetonius in his life of Nero, the palace walls were adorned with mother-of-pearl, rooms were designed with ceilings that showered guests with flowers and perfume. The dining hall rotated and the baths were fed with both sulphurous water and sea water.
Nero’s successors, anxious to distance themselves from him, did their utmost to erase all traces of the palace. Vespasian drained the lake and built the Colosseum in its place. Titus and Trajan each erected a complex of baths over the palace, and Hadrian placed the Temple of Rome and Venus over the vestibule.

We stopped for a quick lunch at Martini’s- another lasagna meal. Then we decided to take the J5 bus and run the entire circuit. The J buses are an oddity. They were set up for the Millenium Celebration to provide a clean, A/C tourist bus and are still running today- virtually empty. The tickets are almost impossible to buy (they’re only available at certain tobacco kiosks) and even then, no one seems to stamp their ticket when they get on the bus. Since we were the only ones stamping our tickets, we decided that “when in Rome”- we should do as the Romans and ignore the stamping station. It was a wonderful free ride all over Rome.

We had time to do a quick walk through the Piazza Navona, filled with tourists and with heavy Baroque buildings.

Another tour with Richard –

Column of Marcus Aurelius: This monument was erected after the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 AD to commemorate his victories over the barbarian tribes of the Danube.

Obelisk of Montecitorio: Measurement of time in ancient Rome was hit and miss. For years, the Romans relied on a sundial from the conquest of Sicily. In 10 BC, Emperor Augustus laid out an enormous sundial, the Horologium of Augustus. Its center was roughly in today’s Piazza di San Lorenzo in Lucina. The shadow was cast by a huge granite obelisk that he had brought back from Heliopolis in Egypt. It disappeared after the 9th century and was rediscovered in the reign of Pope Julius II (1503-13). The pope was intrigued by Egyptian hieroglyphs, which were thought to hold the key to the wisdom of Adam. The obelisk was finally unearthed and erected in its present location in 1792 by Pope Pius VI.

Temple of Hadrian: This temple, dedicated in 145, honors Emperor Hadrian as a god. The remains of the temple are incorporated into a 17th Century building which today houses the Roman Stock Exchange.

Temple of Mitidia: This temple was actually dedicated by Hadrian in 119 to the memory of his mother-in-law.

Obelisk of Ramesses II

Pantheon- Photo courtesy of Flickr
Pantheon: Emperor Hadrian designed the Pantheon- the “Temple of all gods”- to replace an earlier temple built by Marcus Agrippa, son-in-law of Augustus. In the Middle Ages, it became a church.

Pantheon- Photo courtesy of Flickr

The design is an enormous Roman dome set on top of a Greek temple. The dome was cast by pouring concrete mixed with tufa and pumice over a temporary wooden framework.

Piazza della Minerva/Obelisk: The obelisk mounted on an elephant’s back was designed in 1667 by Bernini for Pope Alexander VII. As Pope Alexander wrote, the elephant symbolizes the massive intelligence needed as a base for wisdom.

Iseum et Serapeum: Dedicated to Isis and Serapis in 43 BC, the temple was closed by Augustus and Tiberius and rebuilt by Caligula.

Obelisk of Apries

Baths of Agrippa: These were the first public baths in Rome, built in 25 BC.

Saepta Iulia Once a great rectangular portico built in 26 BC built for meetings and gladiatorial games.

Area Sacra del Largo Argentina: The remains of four temples were discovered here in the 1920’s. They date from the Republican era and are among the oldest found in Rome. The oldest temple(C) dates from the early 3rd century BC. Behind temples B and C are the remains of a great platform of tufa blocks. These have been identified as part of the Curia of Pompei, a rectangular building with a statue of Pompei, where the Senate met and Julius Caesar was murdered on March 14 44BC.

Temple of Fortuna Huiusce Diei

Theater of Pompei Only underground traces remain of this theater built in 53 BC. It was Rome’s first stone theater built by Pompei in 55 BC and restored several times.

Odeon of Domitian Built by Domitian, it was used for music competitions and could accommodate about 8000 spectators.

Stadium of Domitian: Now the Piazza Navona, it was once home to Domitian’s stadium. Athletic contests were held in the 1st century stadium for up to 33,000 spectators.

Back to Trastevere for dinner- this time at a restaurant called El Tana. The food was spectacular- spicy spags and cheap, good house wine. The place was packed with locals and tourists.

Exploring Rome

Mornings in our new home, “Palazzo Bizarro”, provided some challenges- particularly in the bath. Trying to manage the shower head without hitting your head on the overhead beams was worth a few laughs.

We headed to the main street bordering Trastevere and hailed a taxi to take us to our morning tour, “Rome Antiqua”. The tour group, Scala Reale, was an American run group that used American PhD candidates as docents. Richard, our guide for Ancient Rome, was an interesting sort- a mid-westerner who had an absolute passion for the classics. Our small group- the two of us and a Canadian couple started out at the Colosseum.

The Colosseum: Begun by Vespasian shortly after 70 AD, it was opened by Titus ten years later. It was built on the site of a lake in the grounds of Nero’s palace. It was the site of gladiatorial combats and wild animal fights. The oval shape has four stories: three tiers of arches, each with a different type of column- Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian – and a flat fourth story. It has 80 arched entrances that allowed easy access to 55,000 spectators. There were three special gates- one for the emperor and his family, the Gate of Life for the victorious gladiators and the Gate of Death for the vanquished.

Wild animals were kept caged beneath the arena’s floor. They were brought to the stadium level on rope-pulled elevators.

Ancient records tell of the Colosseum’s inauguration which lasted 100 days. It attracted Romans from all parts of the empire and involved the slaying of 5,000 animals.

Arch of Constantine: The foundations of this arch date back to the time of Hadrian (117-138 AD) and most of the decoration on the arch celebrates several other emperors. But, this triumphal arch was redecorated and dedicated in 315 AD to celebrate Constantine’s victory over his co-emperor Maxentius. He claimed that he owed his victory to a vision of Christ.

Arch of Titus: Erected in 81 AD by the Emperor Domitian in honor of the victories of his brother, Titus, and his father, Vespasian in Judea, it has a carving of a triumphant procession of Roman soldiers carrying off spoils from the Temple of Jerusalem. It’s said that Roman Jews will not pass under this arch.

We walked to the Palatine. According to legend, Romulus and Remus were brought up here by a wolf in a cave. Augustus was born in a simple house on the Palatine. When he became Rome’s first emperor, he wanted to remain in his family home, but was pressured to build the first imperial palace on the hill. Every emperor after Augustus lived here, and most of the them added their own new royal palaces.

The most extensive ruins are those of Domus Augustana and Domus Flavia, the two wings of Domitian’s palace. The Domus Augustana was the private part residence of the emperor, the Domus Flavia for official functions.

Circus Maximus: Once this was Rome’s largest stadium, today it is a long grassy esplanade where people run or walk their dogs. It is set in the valley between the Palatine and Aventine hills and once had grandstands that could hold 300,000 spectators to watch horse and chariot races.

Basilica of Constantine: This was originally the largest building in the Forum with 3 huge coffered barrel vaults. It was used for the administration of justice and for other government business.

From there, we headed to the Roman Forum, the center of political, commercial and judicial life in ancient Rome.

Temple of Antonius and Faustina: The temple was erected in 141 AD under Emperor Antonius Pius in memory of his wife Faustina . It was converted to a Christian Church in the 11th Century and was dedicated to San Lorenzo in Miranda.

Temple of Castor and Pollux: There are only 3 surviving columns from this temple. The first temple was probably dedicated in 484 BC in honor of the mythical twins and patrons of horsemanship, Castor and Pollux. It’s said that the Roman emperor Postumius promised to build a temple to the twins if Rome was victorious in the battle against the Etruscans (499BC). Some said the twins appeared on the battlefield and helped the Romans to victory. Then, they appeared in the Forum and the temple marks the spot.

Temple of the Divine Julius: Built to honor the first mortal elevated to divinity, this temple stands on the site where Caesar’s body was burned after he was assassinated in 44 BC.

Basilica Aemila: This is the second oldest basilica ever constructed (179 BC) and was one of four basilicas in the forum used for business transactions and legal proceedings.

Senate (Curia Julia): This is the fifth building to stand on this site and was the site of the Roman Senate for years.

Rostra (Speakers Platform), the podium from which the leaders of Rome addressed the throngs of the Forum below.

Arch of Septimius Severus: Erected in 203 AD to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the accession of Septimius Severus. The reliefs celebrate the emperor’s victories in Parthia and Arabia. Originally the inscription along the top of the arch was to Septimius and his two sons, Caracalla and Geta. But, after Septimius died, Caracalla murdered Geta and had his brother’s name removed.

Temple of Saturn: This temple was built in the Ionic style where Clivus Capitolinus Road- leading uphill-joined Via Sacra. It was erected in 497 BC to honor the god of the harvest and prosperity. >>

Campidoglio: Of the 7 hills of Rome, the Campidoglio is the most sacred. Its origins stretch back to antiquity (an Etruscan temple to Jupiter once stood on the site). Michelangelo laid out the long, sloping steps and the Piazza del Campidoglio. He also positioned the bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius in the center.

After 4 hours of walking, my feet were blistered, we needed money and lunch. We took care of the money, finding an ATM and then bandaids for my feet. We got tickets for Domus Aurea for the following day. For lunch, we headed back towards the Colosseum and found a quaint little spot on a side street with a waiter who looked a bit like an Italian Jay Leno.

Before heading back to Trastevere, we stopped by a little café- for a $10 beer! Then, we grabbed the J4 bus and found our way back towards home. We ran into a Fulbright scholar who was just settling into Rome and she took us for a walk through Trastevere searching for a market. She also recommended a local restaurant, so we found a small café close to our hotel, had some wine and waited for it to open (European dining times- the restaurants don’t even open until 7:30 or 8:00).

Boston to Rome

Travelling after the 9/11/01 tragedy was quite an experience. After many conversations weighting the “go – no-go” decision, we headed to the airport – arriving 3 hours in advance as now required by the airlines. The lines were short, the airline staff was exceptionally friendly and we quickly made it through the check-in process.
As we headed to the boarding area, John noticed a group of 5 Arabic young men checking into 1st Class- with suitcases made of cardboard taped up with duct tape. We slowly walked to the boarding area- then walked back towards the check-in and debated the sanity of getting on the flight. John decided to talk to the BA people to get a sense of who these people were. It turns out that they were college students from the UAE whose parents were sending them home because of their fear for their children’s safety. Their check-in was a process of opening every box and suitcase and checking everything – making sure that the toys actually worked, etc.
Feeling relatively reassured, we headed to security where we found the standard $7.00/hour check- in staff being watched by Special Forces officers carrying machine pistols.
With the reduced volume of people flying, we were able to get two rows to stretch out and got a few hours of sleep before arriving in London at 5:30 am. A few hours in the Heathrow “shopping lounge” and we were on our way to Rome.

We searched expectantly for the “meet and greet” service we had scheduled from our B&B. Finding no one to meet us, we headed to the train station and took the train and a taxi to “Ancient Trastevere B&B”. Our landlady, Laura, was quite a treat. She was so gracious and anxious to help us get settled in Rome – until the money changed hands and she suddenly had phone calls to make and things to do.

Our room was truly “bizzaro” . The B&B was located in a 450 year old house. The entryway had a beautiful little garden with a fountain, marble staircases and wonderfully high ceilings. Laura had taken her piece of the house and carved it into 3 bedroom suites.

Our room had a collection of old theater dresses used as decorations on the wall. The bedroom and bathroom were built on a platform connected by a utilitarian staircase. Wires were stapled to the walls and the décor was early “trash finds”.

Since we had gotten a second wind, we did a quick unpack and headed to the “Rome Trolley Tour”, similar to the Boston Trolley (except at 3:00 in the afternoon, it was a “get on” only bus- no stopping if we wanted to go through the entire circuit. It was a good way to get a quick intro to Rome, do a drive-by of the major sites and get a sense of the flow of the city. We got off at the Colosseum stop and wandered around for awhile. We searched out our meeting spot for Saturday mornings walking tour – Martini’s Café”. With a spectacular view of the Colosseum, we stopped for a beer and some people-watching. It turned into wine and dinner- wonderful lasagna and a great waiter.