A Week in Italy: Day 4

My first full day in Rome was filled with sunshine. We promptly departed from the hotel at eight and took the bus to the Colosseum. Italians are late risers so we were able to arrive and take our stereotypical photos before the crowds formed. Once our tour guide, Uta, arrived we showed our vaccination cards, went through security, scanned our tickets, and began our visit. Looking back I think of Rome as a bit of a wake-up call. I love history but in no world will I ever know everything. Walking around I realized that the only things I knew about Roman civilization were taught to me indirectly through Percy Jackson books – my beloved children's author Rick Riordan whom I highly recommend even to adults. I knew absolutely nothing about the history of the Colosseum.

For starters, I had no idea that the Colosseum was built by slaves. I know that may sound shocking but I’m serious. I had no idea that they would fill the arena with animals and let the gladiators hunt freely in addition to one-on-one fighting. I had no idea that the gladiators were paid under contracts and trained professionally while having no rights over their bodies. I had no idea that the Romans reused materials from the Colosseum to build churches after Christianity was legalized – the Romans persecuted Christians apparently. The Romans were kind of ruthless when you think about it. Women were only allowed to sit in the highest level so as not to distract the men and it’s estimated that the Colosseum held up to 70,000 spectators.

As one of the seven wonders of the world, I found myself daydreaming about history. This structure is enormous –colossus if you will – but it’s also deteriorated a lot. Built 1951 years ago in 70 AD, the Colosseum is an ongoing archeological site today. Most recently they added an exhibit on food remnants that have been uncovered – chicken bones, seeds, nuts – and added a model elevator and trap door that were originally used to lift the animals into the arena from the cages below the stage.

Exiting the Colosseum, we were led up Palatine Hill – one of the seven hills of Rome. As the nucleus of the Roman Empire, Palatine Hill was once covered in imperial palaces housing politicians such as Augustus, Tiberius, and Domitian. Roman mythology cites Palatine Hill as the location where Romulus and Remus were found by the she-wolf, Lupa – Rick Riordan taught me that too. Similar to the Colosseum, Palatine Hill is an ongoing archeological site where the remnants of former palaces are being unearthed every day. Sadly, our time was cut short so we only got to observe the Roman Forum from the overlooking hill, but all I could think about was the musical, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum.

We returned to the city center utterly exhausted. After a brief pit stop at the nearby McDonald’s and one Sprite later I hunkered down in my hotel room to write and relax. I had planned to get an early dinner and skip lunch but my stomach had other ideas. Apparently, the smaller meals in Europe aren’t holding me over as much as the larger meals back in the states – wild I know. My friend and I tried baguette sandwiches at a shop just down the road from our hotel – Le Baguettes. I got a simple white baguette with mozzarella, tomatoes, and pesto sauce – it was pure bliss. Simplicity at its finest.

Later that evening we took a stroll over to the Trevi Fountain – crazy busy at nighttime. Regardless it was gorgeous. Walking to find a restaurant for dinner we were consistently approached by hostesses on the street as we walked by – they were rather pushy but I pulled out my acting skills and threw them for a loop by replying in other languages. We ended up on the same street we ate at the night before. We ended up at an equally busy restaurant called Mimi e Cocò. One glass of prosecco and a plate of Cacio e Pepe later I was finally ready for my daily dose of gelato. This time around I went for Strawberry with Dark Chocolate from the same place as the night before - Ice Crome – the owner warned me that his Dark Chocolate is very bitter but I thought it was perfection. It was the perfect ending to my day in Rome.

Mimì & Cocò – Ristorante a Trastevere & a Piazza Navona

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