Roma III

Friday July 13th.  Flavian's Amphitheatre.

This was our day to tour the Colosseum, the Palatine and the Forum.  We had opted for a guided tour called "the Gladiator's Gate" and included the colosseum, the palatine hill and the Roman Forum.  It
was a 09:00hrs start so we were up and attem' early again!
We walked over to the 81 stop and were able to hop on for the 2 stops.  The 2 minute bus ride saves steps and as we had learned already, conserving energy for the heat and humidity to come was a must.
We arrived early enough at the muster point next to a sidewalk cafe to enjoy a coffee and croissant.   Our guide was a animated fellow with extensive credentials in Roman history.  He kept the experience light and informative.  Colosseum, he explained is a "nickname" that has become the most recognized name for the structure.  My caption above is the true name after the emperor who began the construction.  We entered onto the arena floor.  Standing there looking up where the many spectators would have been only required a little bit of imagination to travel back in time and feel the excitement and fervor of the games!  The magnitude and design of this arena is amazing.  50,000 plus spectators could enter and exit within minutes!  The passages and rooms beneath the arena floor, which was made of wood and covered in sand, were an elaborate maze enabling the many animals and other

props to be quickly and efficiently moved into place on the floor above.  This was done through 80 trap doors in the floor.  Our guide had renderings of what the arena would have looked like in its full glory, before time, earthquakes and plunderers had taken their toll.  For any with an interest in ancient history this is definitely a bucket list item.
Our next stop on this tour was the Palatine hill.  This was the place the rich and noble would have lived.  It was a stone's throw from the arena and being on a hill had a good panoramic view of the city at the time.  From the Palatine, we walked down into the forum area.  This is where the masses resided.  It was also the meeting place for commerce and many of the temples to the gods were there.
This tour was a bit of a history overload.  There was so much to see and wonder at.

When our tour wrapped up, after over 3 hours, we were ready for some relief from the blistering heat and humidity.
This brings me to another sidebar about the 81!  We walked from the forum area back to the colosseum and the 81 bus stop.  We decided we would wait for the bus for the 2 stops as any relief from walking in the heat was a bonus.  According to the Rome transit online site the 81 should run about every 14 minutes.  At about the 25 minute mark of waiting, some of our group decided to walk home.  Wouldn't you know it, we were about 100 meters from the stop and the 81 rolled up.  With a burst of energy and blinding speed we bolted back to the stop, fortunately the driver saw us coming and opted to wait for us!  We didn't even try to validate our eternal tickets as we were only on the bus for 2 stops.
JT did figure out why we couldn't validate the tickets, we were putting them into the machine backwards!  I'm sure if the transit cops had of checked us they would have been sympathetic to our ineptitude and given us a quick lesson on how to us the machine, not!  So we ended up saving a few euro on transportation through our folly!
When we got back to the apartment, JT and I decided to walk up the street to a spot google said had a taxi stand.  It was only a few minute walk and our plan was to see if we could arrange for a cab to the train station in the morning.  We found the spot and there were some cabs there.  We approached a cab that pulled up.  The lady driving rolled down her window, I used my go to Italian phrase "Parla Inglese?".  Well we must have either caught her on a bad day or she is the most unfriendly cabbie in Rome.  She looked at me with a disgusted look and said "Taxi?"  I tried to explain we wanted to arrange one for tomorrow.  She turned her head forward, rolled up her window and drove up a few meters.  I though she may be moving to a parking spot as she again rolled down her window.  Taking this as a sign we walked up to the window again.  She basically looked at me with a very sour expression then looked forward and ignored us!  We saw another cab pull up.  We went over to this one and the fellow in this cab was very helpful explaining what we needed to do to secure a taxi for the morning.  As it turned out I was able to find a direct bus line to the station with a stop not far from the apartment so we decided on this, not wanting to trust to a cab maybe or maybe not coming in the morning.
This was our final evening in Rome and we went out to a local restaurant just around the corner.  What a wonderful place!  It was obviously a favorite spot of many locals and our meal was awesome.  Our server had a good sense of humor and her wit and personality enhanced the experience.

Pompeii tomorrow!