Farewell Rome

The last two days in Rome we spent inside the Colosseum and at Borghese Gardens. I was pretty excited to check out the inside of the arena where Russell Crowe famously battled tigers and a despotic Caesar, so once the four of us were together we caught the tram down and braved the crowds to see about a tour. It actually worked out really well as A was pulled up by a woman selling rapid entry tickets with a tour, she took us straight to a tour guide and within ten minutes we were ushered through the entry, passing an enormous line of poor suckers waiting to purchase single entry tickets. An American expat who had clearly done the tour more times than was healthy for her peppered us with facts about the structure and the people who used it.

It must have been incredible when it was newly constructed, completely covered in marble (since ‘recovered’ and used to construct the Vatican), painted brightly and with canvas sun shades overhead. The arena floor hid a couple of layers of storage facilities and cages underneath, where zebras and lions waited their turn to be paraded in front of the crowd. Bitti’s favourite part of the tour was hearing about the vomitorium: the sloping design of the stadium steps that assisted in pushing the entire 60,000-strong crowd out in 15 minutes flat.

I am beginning to think I have a vampire for a child as she is so averse to the sun. It was pretty sunny for parts of the tour and she almost melted and ended up flopping around in a most annoying way. She’d have made a terrible gladiator.

That evening we walked to our local breakfast spot and got some take away pizza, paid for by the kilo. It’s a great system as it meant we could try a little of each pizza. Bitti has been having croissant every morning for breakfast, and we’ve now got the ordering down well enough to manage in Italian. And I’ve even been trying some coffee! Espresso is foul, completely unpalatable. But the cappuccino is tolerable enough, if I’m motivated to get some caffeine into me. I ordered breakfast to go on the final day and they gave me the coffee in an old pear juice jar! Loved it, didn’t need to feel guilty about not having a keep cup.

For our final day in Rome Bitti and I headed back to Borghese Gardens on the tram. This time determined to rent some bikes and row a boat. R and A headed off for their pre-booked tour of the Vatican. This time Bitti did a really good job of walking around. We chased some lions around the steps of the Modern Art Gallery, rowed a boat around a lake and rented a funny little four-wheeled bike (quadcycle?) with electric assist that we used to fang around the whole park.

I’d love to tell you a bit about the gardens and why/how they are there, but I am not really learning much this holiday. If Bitti doesn’t crack the shits it’s a good day! There were statues, monuments, a theatre, museums and art galleries all over the place in there. I wish we’d had time to actually visit an art gallery. Maybe next visit.

We are getting the hang of the geography and public transport now, and used the metro to come home from Spagna, a station Bitti was getting quite familiar with. She enjoys riding all the escalators, putting the ticket in the machines and swinging around on the numerous poles inside the train carriages. Back home we went to reunite with R and A, have a rest before dinner. Unfortunately we left dinner a little too late for Bitti, and after a massive altercation over putting her shoes on to leave the house I decided to just put her to bed and stay in. So, it all ended with a bit of a whimper.

Next, Florence!