Following in Alaric's footsteps: Walking Tour of Rome (6/27/13)

Urvi and I inside the Colosseum!

Trip: Tour the Classical Sites

Distance: 7 miles

Sights: Spanish Steps, Pantheon, Piazza Novona, Forum, Colosseum, Palatine Hill

Pivo Index: 1

The Vatican has never been my big goal in seeing Rome.  Instead it’s Ancient Rome I’ve always wanted to see.  So with only one full day in the Eternal City, we mapped out a plan to see the Pantheon, the Palatine, the Forum and the granddaddy of them all – The Colosseum!

If I wrote out a list of the Top 10 man-made structures I wanted to visit when I was younger it would have been:

1.       Neuschwanstein

2.       Parthenon

3.       Colosseum

4.       Chichen Itza

5.       Pyramids of Giza

6.       Hagia Sofia

7.       Taj Mahal

8.       CN Tower

9.       Panama Canal

10.   Kremlin

The first was a Luftansa poster on my wall when I was a kid and I was fortunate enough to go see it in 2007.  The second I saw in 2009 on my trip to Greece.

So, we left our little B&B in the area of the Vatican and took the Metro into the city.   Getting off at Spagna Station, we got turned around and went the wrong way.  We wondered by the Villa Borghese and down streets lined with 18^th and 19^th century buildings.  Nuncio had described Rome as “A museum without a roof.”

By the time I realized where we were – I realized we were right around the corner from the Spanish Steps.  Like forcing everyone to go see Argos on our trip to Mycene/Nemea – BONUS SIGHT!!!

Urvi on the Spanish Steps

Next stop was the Pantheon.  I cannot even begin to describe.  I can try with this video, but you don’t even know.  

The Pantheon was the largest domed structure in the world – I believe until Brunelleschi’s domein Florence in the Renaissance.

Inside the Pantheon

Peroni's Blue Ribbon, just in case you needed a PBR in Italy

Then we moved on to the center of Ancient Rome. 

These sights were so perfect.  In a hundred pictures I’ve seen these things.  Discovery Channel shows and Gibbon describe the building of them.  It is not until you see the Forum or gasp at Constantine’s Arch that you really understand

Il Victorino

Trajan's Column

Forum

I came; I saw, I got stared at by middle aged Germans

I got nothing...

Yep...

Constantine's Arch

That was just the first half day in Italy!  A million adventures await.

Tino pai,

Jesse…