We were all up for breakfast early. Breakfast at our hotel was very nice. Good coffee, of course. Caffe lattes or cappuccinos made to order, great pastries, yogurt, cereal. We couldn't have asked for much more.
We walked over to the Colosseum to meet our guide, Ioanna Nicolaou (e-mail her for rates and info at ioanna.n@hotmail.com), at about 9. The skies were overcast, but no rain. Ioanna filled us in on the history of Rome, and the purpose and politics of the events at the Colosseum. The shows were free to the citizens, as a way to placate the masses, and probably to scare them into behaving. It sounds like all of the entertainment ended with death for the participants - or at least most of them. The Colosseum held 50,000 people, and could be emptied in 17 minutes. Ioanna really made Ancient Rome come alive.
The Colosseum
Our great guide in Rome, Ioanna Nicolaou
Becky and John at the Forum
Overcast skies at the Forum
We had lunch at Bibo, a few blocks away from the Colosseum, and ate outside in the sunshine. It had good pizza and spaghetti.
Since we'd walked by the Victor Emmanuel Monument, we decided to backtrack after lunch to see it. The walk up the steps gave us a nice view of the surrounding city.
The Victor Emmanuel memorial
We're getting more familiar with the walking route to and from our hotel, meaning we don't get lost every time we venture out. Good thing, because our "dogs are barking" at the end of each day anyway.
After happy hour in one of our rooms, we checked with the front desk and got another good restaurant recommendation in the neighborhood. We ate at Al Viminale, a nice, small place that seemed to be serving lots of locals, and a group from the local police station. Simple food, and we felt really safe.
When we tried to pay the bill with a credit card, the owner, who didn't speak English, said something we didn't understand. Emmett, thinking we were getting some kind of discount because the hotel had sent us over, got up and gave the owner a big hug. We laughed about this for days. The owner was really trying to tell us there was a cash machine around the corner. He did hug all of us on our way out though, after we'd figured out that we needed to pay our bill!
We stopped by the Irish pub in the neighborhood (Guinness fans) and spent as much on one drink each as we'd spent on lunch that day. Sheesh. I'm really trying to keep us under budget.
To bed late, even though we need to be up early tomorrow.
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