Ancient Rome

Ok so for the last 14 months we have been going around ohh-ing and ahh-ing at old buildings and paintings which for American’s seem really OLD, to the point that these things seem about commonplace.  By no means does that mean that they aren’t impressive but just kinda normal.  Well today pretty much blows that out of the water.  Not going to put a bunch of pics up, instead here is a link to all the pictures we took.  (ok not all but alot of them)  https://picasaweb.google.com/111174649778637905437/Rome?authkey=Gv1sRgCKfr-dP_nceQLw#

I have been having a hard time all day just wrapping my hands around it all.  It started with the Coliseum built at 80 AD.  So standing where people nearly 2000 years ago cheered for gladiators.  Oh and Rome was pretty much the center of the world at that time.  But that is another story.   Ok so the history is impressive enough, but then lets talk about the engineering...something like 450 feet high and 50 thousand seats.  So we are climbing stairs and walking around on the third deck of nearly 2000 year old stadium.  I was scared walking around on the 50 year old rust bowl at Lewis field before the renovation, and now we are talking something 40 times as old as that. 

Apparently an earthquake came through in the 1300s or something and brought down the top two levels on the south side, but you can still see the full height on the north side. I am breezing right over a whole bunch of other stuff, (half the history of Rome, the ridiculous street vendors and all the gelato) so ask us about it when you see us.

Ok so on to the Forum....I don’t know what I thought it was before, but for sure wasn’t expecting what I got.  Something like 6 acres of ruins that was at one time the center of the city, and the main place for government, worship and general goings on.  I think what really got me here, apart from the fact that there were just ruins laying around and you could walk on and touch, was the connections with Julius Caesar.  

Indulge me a bit here and follow along.  So we are standing in the Forum in front of what they described as the place where Caesar lived.  Our audio tour guide retells his death in the words of Shakespeare.  So I am thinking back to High School, and how thinking back to the time of Shakespeare seemed so long ago.  Similarly, Shakespeare must have been thinking how long ago all of the history from Rome was when he was writing Julius Caesar.  And there we were, going all the way back to that time.

This was supposed to be spot where Ceasar's body was burned.  

The told how the real reason for all of the destruction to pretty much all of ancient Rome was Christianity.  Then again pretty much the whole reason for most of history is Christianity in some form or the other so it kinda makes sense.  Apparently it wasn’t always  such a good job being the Pope!  Anyway they say that just about everything in the Forum was buried at one point after century’s of neglect.

On to the Pantheon from there...another 2000 year old building, and example of how impressive the Romans were as engineers....geometric perfection.  The longest continuously used building in Rome.

I kept saying all day how all of Rome reminded me of Vegas.  I guess its probably more like Vegas reminds me of Rome, but you get the point.  All of the huge buildings, statues, people, and street vendors trying to sell you crap you don't want or need.  Anyway, probably the most Vegas-y moment was at the Trevi Fountain.  Just 100s of people standing around watching water flow, throwing money in a fountain.  These types of sites were all around the city.  I could write for days about everything we saw, but really there was just too much.