Rome, Day 2

We decided to forego the trip to the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican on today's itinerary and have a day on our own exploring romantic Rome.  We had visited both places before and remembered very vividly the crowds!  Although the day was quite cool it would be very hot standing in the sun for long lengths of time.  So, our day was decided.  We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at our beautiful hotel, the Bernini Bristol, and set off.

The plan was to go straight to the Pantheon via Hop On Hop Off bus and then walk back to our Hotel stopping along the way for lunch.  It was perfect.  The bus stop was not far from the Pantheon and using google maps we were easily able to find our way.  We had many photo stops along the way because every corner you turn is another magnificent marble clad building or statue.  I won’t talk too much about the Pantheon in todays post as I want to go into more detail after we have been inside the building tomorrow.
I find Rome the most interesting city that I have ever visited. Rome’s history from when it was founded by brothers Romulus and Remus in 753 BC to when it fell in the 15th Century is remarkable. How the Roman Empire eventually fell is still full of conjecture and there is not one particular reason why it fell.  I personally would like to think that the Christians are the reason but that is just one of many theories.
Rome was remarkably unscathed during the World Wars so many of its magnificent structures remain standing in all their glory. The main damage to these historic buildings has been by looters removing the marble.  You can see holes along the walls of buildings where the marble was taken and I try to picture in my mind how it would have looked before the looting.

We walked around 10 kilometres before eventually stopping at a Ristorante for lunch.  I ordered Scampi Risotto and Philip once again had pizza, the base of which was much thinner (and tastier) than the one we had in Naples.  Different areas different eating culture.

We were back in our room by 3.00 pm where we had a nap before our evening tour to the Colosseum followed by dinner at the Vladimiro Ristorante.

Travelling with Regent has meant that we have exclusive admission to certain places and at the Colosseum we were granted admission as the last tour group for the day.  That meant that the crowds were minimal and we got to enjoy the different aspects of this remarkable building without haste.

This is the second time that we have visited the Colosseum and this arena, that could hold up to 150,000 people still sends a shiver down my spine.  I can feel the fear of the Christians as they were fed to the lions, all in the name of sport....
However, the Colosseum is magnificent and it is a continuous effort by the Italians to maintain this structure.  In fact all over Rome we see the same thing.  Many buildings are covered in scaffolding and are being cleaned and restored. Last time we were here Trevi Fountain was turned off and covered in scaffolding so we are looking forward to tomorrows tour when we get to see it in all its splendour!