Saturday, September 21, 2013

10 hours of sleep!!  We really were tired!  Must have been all the walking, the wine, and the lemoncello yesterday.  We dawdled over breakfast, then decided to tackle the Forum again.  The taxi to the Forum entrance let us out at the Coliseum.  Well, FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM.  We couldn’t find it!  We asked the hotel clerk – it’s here, she pointed on the map.  We asked the taxi – it’s there.  We asked a guide – it’s over there, follow the wall, up the hill.  We did – no entrance (yet another hill in Rome!).  Go up the hill over there and you’ll find an entrance.  Went up Palatine Hill – no entrance.  Go to the 2^nd traffic light and turn left.  No entrance.  OK, good overall views of the Forum (actually, very neat), but we NEVER found an entrance to get in!  We saw people in the Forum and tried to follow the lines, like ants, but couldn't find a beginning or end!  There was a lot of construction for a subway and all the entrances on our maps were closed.  The ONE place – WAY back in the other direction – we didn't try, is probably the only entrance now, but we were completely over it by that time!  We still saw where Caesar was born, were he spoke, where he was burned and where his funeral was – from above.

It’s pretty incredible how the city is built above and all around the ruins.  It is continually being excavated.  Even Caesar’s palace on Palatine Hill is still being unearthed.  I noticed the top of an arch sticking up from the ground, so you know there is more underneath.  To think, ALL of this was covered in marble.  How magnificent it must have been and SO HUGE!  

We went to San Clemente church down the road from the Coliseum.  That’s a crazy, mixed up church and fascinating.  Inside is a mixture of Medieval and Baroque.  You pay to go down underneath the church to find an earlier church, then go down ANOTHER level to find the ruins of a pagan “church”.  Creepy down there and very humid and smelly, but amazing that was all found and protected!  

Back to the hotel for a break with fruit, cheese, crackers, and wine, then out to stroll by the river, only a couple of blocks from the hotel.  We crossed the Tiber River (Fiume Tevere) on the Ponte Umberto directly in front of the Corte de Casserzone (the Palace of Justice -- national supreme court), went past the very Gothic church Sandy was so interested in – not open – and crossed back over the river again on Ponte Cavour. Now we’ve crossed over 3 bridges in Rome.  Too bad we are leaving, now that we are just getting to know the city better! 

We have a bottle of wine to consume tonight and some lemoncello. So after a pizza margarita (a popular one here, and boy, is it good!) and Chianti, I’m going to pack and get ready to leave this fascinating country in the morning. Goodbye Italy – hope to see you again soon!  This has been the most wonderful trip in every way.