It was another typical Italian morning for us, except for the shocking absence of eating a cornetto. The boys were up early and hung out eating breakfast as I snoozed a bit. Soon enough, though, we were all up getting ready because we had tickets for the Colosseum at 10:00. About an hour before, we were out the door. We picked up our bus tickets from a local Tabaccheria, and were at the bus stop in plenty of time. It was a really cold morning with fast, biting winds. We got to our stop and I looked at my phone to see what the bus line options were. I saw a little warning sign saying some of the bus services may be limited, so I clicked in for more info and, after some translation efforts, discovered there was a 24 hour bus driver strike taking place.
We waited. A little longer. A little longer. Finally, our bus came. With the limited bus supply and the always abundant demand, were packed in there like sardines, however, the other riders were very generous, with one man giving up his seat for Beren and another giving up her seat for Allison and Silas. In a few minutes we stepped off the bus and took in the imposing sight of the Colosseum. Once again, we braved the frigid, whipping wind to stand in the line, but made it in quickly, and Allison got in free because it was International Women’s Day. Bonus!
For me, walking through the ancient structure really spurred the imagination. I’ve never seen the Pyramids or anything like that, but seeing something of this scale, age, and architectural detail built without modern machinery is impressive, especially considering all the practical elements too, since it was used so frequently. On the other hand, unfortunately most of the things that happened within the Colosseum during its heyday were pretty atrocious and are compounded by the equally atrocious fact that people loved coming to watch them. That part is hard to imagine or I rather don’t want to.
Silas insisted in climbing every steep stair, but wanted to be carried in all other cases. Beren enjoyed looking at the models of what the Colosseum looked like back in the day and some of the animal bones and pottery that they’ve found there, but once we got out and were actually able to see the arena, they took it in pretty quickly and then were ready to go, exclaiming they were hungry. To their luck, Allison and I were too.
We found a cafe across the street and enjoyed a brunch in the shadow of the infamous arena. It was quite the view (which showed up in the price), but it was such a fun time in such a neat place.
Afterward, we tried to decide what to do next and ultimately Beren’s bladder decided for us. The only bathroom we could find was inside the entrance to the Palatine Hill, so we showed our tickets again and, after Beren relieved himself, decided to stay for a bit longer to look around. I’m very glad we did. We climbed the hill and started by exploring the ruins of the Flavian Palace. It was built for the emperor Domitian in the late first century and continued to be used by emperors following him. What is left is still a sprawling complex on the top of the hill with views of the surrounding city.
On this part of our journey, the boys were well behaved and Beren busied himself with covering an Aquaman action figure he had with dirt at every stop we made. The one behavioral exception was when Silas took off at a sprint, crossed a barrier, and then ran across an ancient palace courtyard. We also took off at a sprint trying to retrieve him on the other side and thankfully did.
We then saw the house of Caesar Augustus, situated between the ruins of a temple to Apollo and the traditional site where legend says Romulus built his hut when he founded the city. This was a strategic location apparently because Augustus, in continuing to establish his legitimacy, wanted to associate himself with both figures. After a short walk through some gardens, we made our way down the hill and saw the Arch of Titus, which provoked I’m me weird, mixed feelings. The arch is ornate and impressive with intricate friezes, but was built commemorating his conquest of Judah and Jerusalem, including burning and destroying the temple.
By this time, we were tired and ready to go back after a packed morning. We walked to the bus stop and remembered, uh-oh, bus strike. We were hopeful and waited and waited, but unlike the morning, the bus never came, so Allison strapped on the baby carrier for Silas, I put Beren on my shoulders and we walked the 2 km home.
Later in the day, I went to work, and Allison went to the supermarket. When the boys woke up from their nap, they enjoyed olives and cheese. The workday was productive and not as jampacked as the prior day, thankfully. Since we’ve been eating so much Italian food, we decided it would be nice to find a little change of pace, so we tried a sushi place close by and it hit the spot.
Tomorrow begins our next side adventure to Florence. All of us are currently trying to fight off a little cold Silas brought over, so I’m hoping another good night’s sleep will knock that out and get us ready to explore a new city. I’m also hoping the bus drivers will be back at the wheel so we can get to the train station.