Thrown to the Lions: We Came, We Saw, We Ate Gelato

"Tour  of the Coloseum sir, Speak English? Sprecken ze Deutch? Habla Espanol??  Say ALL the tour operators standing in front of the Coloseum.

We had no intention of a tour guide and so kept walking past and 5 minutes away we purchased our Coloseum and Palatine Hill tickets. Walked back to the Coloseum and past the Tour Guides.

"Sir....Tour! The lines are 30 minutes long to get in and I can get you in now."We walked on past the Guides, into the underneath area of the Coloseum, past the 30 minute ticket buying lines. past the Tour Group Area....up to the turnstiles, handed them our ticket purchased but 5 minutes earlier down the street and walked in.

(Our thanks to both Lonely Planet and Rick Steves who suggested we bypass the lines and Guides and Coloseum ticket booth and buy tickets down the street and return.)

We scoped out the Coloseum on Friday and decided that our visit and tour of the ancient ruins would be on Monday when we could arrive early. So we did.

I have continual visions of the Coloseum being in a big open place with cars circling the ancient ruins in the midst of Rome. Well the Coloseum is big and old and the cars do circle the ruins, but it is sort of wedged into the midst of Rome and to walk the neighborhoods is to walk through multiple layers (literally) of history. Like seeing the various layers of eons on the walls of the Grand Canyon, one can walk through time as one tours the Coloseum, the Forum and Palatine Hill. In a few hour, a tourist such as myself is indeed walking through time.

It goes from the sublime to the ridiculous or in this case, it begins with sublime upon seeing the very first glimpse of the Coloseum after walking through the streets of Rome. The scene turns ridiculous as half the knick knack sellers of the Western World descend upon you with trinkets and tours. There are also a group of beefy men dressed as "Romans" who will pose for pictures for a fee and you'll have an ancient gladiator or a Ceasar. Most of the costumed "Romans" look bored as they smoke and check their cell phones. They also look a bit scarey and bear no resemblance to modern Romans who are followers of fashion, though I suppose in their day, the ancient Romans were also.

The first moment of walking into the Coloseum is a bit of a dramatic moment, we have all seen countless movies of Rome and the modern and ancient Coleseum and this place is so big and massive that even time could not wear it down and here I am today walking through it. Alas, like so many antiquities, it has had its share of re-builds and retorations. Much of the Coloseum is missing and today, it seems as if the focus of us tourists is the under-the-coloseum floor warren of passages which are exposed since the floor of the actual arena is long since gone.

Apparently the ancient and Middle Ages Romans had better things to do with cut stone and marble once they had finished with the Coloseum as a focal point of their public lives. Many of those stones were carted off to be a part of other buildings and Cathedrals. Good for them, it's ancient recycling. Bad for us...we are left with an incomplete shell. But, I tip my hat to the people of Rome, the Coloseum is a must-see and it is in good condition to visit and exercise one's imagination with the grandeur of Ancient Rome.

We wander from the street level to the next level up and walked all around that upper level. A couple higher levels are tourist-accessible but not for us. No matter. We took in all the angles of the place and marveled at the brick, stone and marble structure. I kept trying to picture Ben Hur in his chariot race in the place, but I had the wrong movie and place. Russell Crow in Gladiator is a good reference for what Hollywood has done to popularize the vision of the Coloseum.

Like the Grand Canyon, the Coloseum needs to be seen from as many angles as possible, using one's imagination and marveling that this ancient structure is today circled by Fiat's and Toyota's on the modern city streets of Rome. It is a must-see. We came and we saw. We're glad.

But like the ancient Gladiators, we had to face the real test AFTER the Coloseum...that of the Tour Guides and trinket sellers outside the gate. And we did and we moved quickly down the street to The Forum.

Inside the Forum, one can wander an active re-creation and on-going archeological site. And it is smack in the midst of Rome. It is wonderful to imagine. There are columns of this building and excavations of that set of buildings and Arches commemorating that battle which turned the tide for Rome or subjected a conquered people to slavery and destruction. Interesting how the victors write the history in their favor.

We thoroughly enjoyed the Forum and the connected...Palatine Hill which had an almost calm City Park atmosphere about it. By seeing all three of those Ancient Rome sites....all within about five minutes of each other....one can enter Ancient times and return all within a couple hours.

We took note that modern Rome for all its creature comforts does not include Water Closets high on their list of tourist friendly necessities. But, you just keep walking.

After a few hours, the antiquities start to blur, something old....and here is something older....and over there is a bunch of old things....and next to it some more old stuff. Yes, I know these things are the pride of Ancient Rome and the Western Civilizations which came after. The day was truly a highlight of the trip thus far and it will be remembered fondly.

Our greatest achievement (amidst all the achievements of Ancient Rome)? We knew exactly where to find our favorite Gelato store (and that they had modern bathrooms) and we could negotiate our way back through Rome via the Piazzas which everyone loves so much....and we could do it all without a city map.

All who wander are not lost, as someone else said.

Peace,  Bob