Cradle of Civilization: ROME DAY 2 (Colosseum & Trevi Fountain)

The day broke sunny and bright with very nice temperatures in the upper 60's and no indication that this would be the most nerve-wracking day of our entire trip.  With only a limited amount of time left in Rome (about 5 hours between the time we walked out of the hotel in the morning until we were due back at the hotel to check out and get our ride to the ship), I was convinced we would be able to make it to the Colosseum AND see the Trevi Fountain--two must-see sights in Rome.

Taking a taxi would be one way to do this, however, the local train was convenient to the hotel and neither Agnes or I were particularly intimidated by traveling this way--though doing this in Rome is probably not for the faint of heart.  It turns out getting to the Colosseum was really no problem at all since there is a stop on the train right there across the street and it was the fastest, cheapest way to get there.   You walk right out of the station and this is what you see:

 First thing in the morning, its really not too crowded there and once we got closer, we were almost immediately recruited into a small English-speaking tour group.  $50 for a 2 hour tour, including the price of admission?  Ok, sure...what do I really know about the Colosseum anyway?  Turns out--not much!

To begin with, I never realized that the space was almost strictly for gladiatorial contests, rather than chariot races which were held in a completely different venue (Circus Maximus) a short distance away.  Likewise, I never knew that no Christians were actually fed to the lions here (they were mostly crucified on the road out of town along the Appian Way), though this fact hardly stood in the way of the early Popes who claimed that this is what happened here.  Hardly surprising that the Church would promote this false history when you realize just how much of this structure was cannabalized to build St. Peter's Basilica!

Note large marble plaque with crucifix affixed there by Pope Clement after a great deal of marble was removed from this section to build St. Peter's and replaced with brick.  He wasn't alone though: several other Popes also removed marble and left their signatures as well.

Before going inside, we had a chance to look around and learn more about our surroundings, beginning with this somewhat familiar looking arch:

Visitors to France may recognize this particular arch which actually has its duplicate in Paris.

Ruins of the original Temple of Venus, later converted to a church by some of the early Christians.

Agnes and I standing a few feet away from the location of the original  colossus statue of Nero.  The  statue was how the Roman Amphitheater behind us originally got its name.  Apparently, no one at the time ever said "Hey, I'll meet you at the Amphitheater".  Instead, they said, "I'll meet you at the Colossus", meaning the huge statue next to it.  The statue, of course, is long gone but the tradition of calling the Amphitheater the Colosseum has stuck to this day.

Getting ready to go in.  Well of course there's a line!  Still, not as bad as St. Peter's and going with a group puts us in a different, faster line.

Yes, its a little crowded, but certainly not as bad as when upwards of 90,000 very lucky citizens (tickets were free in those days and given as gifts to only the most select Romans) packed in here on game day.

Part of the original floor has been reconstructed over the lower  cells.  Beneath the Colosseum floor was where vicious wild animals were housed that could be released into the arena through a system of trap doors, very similar to scenes found in the movie Gladiator...though not with computerized tigers or Russell Crowe.

Even though the entire structure is quite deteriorated, this was still hugely impressive.  Takes a bit of athleticism to move between floors as well--there are no elevators and the steps between the different levels are very high and steep.

This is where the Roman emperors themselves actually sat.  This area is in especially bad shape since the fine mosaics encrusting this area were later pilfered by local scavengers.

While most of what you see is kind of this reddish, rustic brick color, its important to keep in mind that most of what you are seeing is the supporting structure.  Everything you see in this picture would have originally been encased in slick, white marble long since removed or deteriorated.

There is no question that Agnes and I were glad we made the time to see the Colosseum, despite our tight schedule.  But I just had to push it a little further...

From everything I could see on our map, the Trevi Fountain lay just off the path of our train back to the hotel and we should be able to jump off the train, take a quick look and get back on the line.  Well, this is where confusion gradually set in and anxiety quickly followed.  So, back on the train and out of the station a few stops back along the line and what do we see as we come out of the stop?

This beautiful fountain!  Which I will call Fountain #1, for reasons that will become clear.

Ah, the famous Trevi Fountain!  Let's take a couple of pictures!

Hey, this little bypass worked great...until it slowly began to dawn on us that maybe this fountain really wasn't the big deal we were after.  We would have thought more people would be around and, of course, its always possible we took a wrong turn when we left the station.  Let's look at the map again...Oh yes, here it is!  We needed to go this way instead of that way.

Through this cute little shopping area and down these steps...

Wow!  Look at all these people at the fountain.  Still, this fountain is even smaller than the original one...This can't be it, can it?  I think we have instead found Fountain #2.  Don't ask me its name...please.

Twisting and turning the map as though looking for the key to buried treasure, it soon became apparent that we were getting dangerously close to being lost with only an hour left before check-out time and the arrival of our car.  Plan B, which consisted of eschewing train travel and getting a cab, now seems a pretty bad idea since there are just a TON of people around and the narrow, crowded streets makes vehicular travel a pretty slow proposition.  Unfortunately, my drive to FIND THIS FOUNTAIN NO MATTER THE COST! starts to kick in, despite Agnes' growing pleas to forget the whole thing.

Ok, up this street (where are the street signs?!  Oh, yeah, they don't really go in for those in Rome.  Sometimes a building might have its address and the name of the street on it, though its not a very uniform practice and angle streets make deciphering directions difficult) and follow this other group of tourists this way.  No, not that way, maybe this way?  Half an hour of chasing around looking for fountains in Rome while the clock is ticking starts to make me feel like Tom Hanks in "Angels & Demons" except I'll bet they'd hold the ship for Tom Hanks.

Success!  We found it!  Fountain #3 is officially the Trevi Fountain.  Quick, get a picture , push through the throngs of people to throw a coin in and make a dash for the nearest train station!

Things actually got even MORE tense after this point, however, thankfully no photos of that survive.  Long story short, we actually did make it back to the hotel more or less on time (meaning "On time enough that they didn't charge us an extra day").  Our very professional driver was waiting for us and got us to the port in plenty of time, though don't ask me much about that hour long drive since exhaustion and jet lag finally got the better of us and we pretty much slept the whole way.