Roma Daya Una

Today was our first full day in Rome and we made good use of it. We had signed up for a walking tour that cost $36 for the two of us, but was supposed to be the best thing we could do in Rome. We saw much of Rome but certainly felt like we didn't get our money's worth. The tour started at the Circo Massimo, which was a chariot-racing track with a 300,00 person capacity. We then heard a little bit of history about the founding and history of Rome, including Romulus and Remus and their wolf-suckling childhood. Next, we walked over to the Mouth of Truth which was the central drain for Rome's sewage but when dug up in the middle ages, was used as a truth-teller for the Chruch where people would put their hand in and tell their side of the story and if they were lying the "mouth" would bite them. The trouble was that a bunch of rats lived in the mouth and they almost always bit the person, so if you got as far as the Mouth of Truth, you were as good as executed.
I have to stop here and briefly describe our tour guide (the reason I said I didn't feel we got our money's worth). He was from Toronto, but was a caricature of the American stereotype: foul-mouthed, self-important, a poor grasp of the English language, rude and generally thought he was God's gift to whomever was on HIS tour that day. He described the Pantheon as a "big-ass, damn dome," (the main alter of which is pictured to the right) used words like "misconstrueded", didn't know the difference between suffering and suffrage (apparently the Jews had a rough time in Rome AND didn't have the right to vote: although probably true, definitely unintentional), and informed us that Octavian was "banging Marc Anthony's ex-girlfriend." He dropped F-bombs like they were going out of style and called anyone who stuck their hand in the Mouth of Truth (most tourists do this) an asshole. Worse than all that was just the way he carried himself. Enough of that, now more of Rome.
We went to some ruins that were now filled with stray cats and learned that Mussolini granted the cats of Rome full Roman citizenship. We walked from there to the Pantheon, where some Emperor had the bright idea to put all the Pagan Gods in one place to cut down on worship-time traffic. The Pantheon was stunning and we were surprised to learn that the engineering in Rome was so advanced that to this day, noone has been able to re-create its construction, and that the entire dome was one single piece of poured, un-reinforced concrete. We got a break there and had some delicious gelatto before continuing our tour.
Next was the Piazza di Venezia, a mediocre piazza with an absolutely stunning palace that looks like the White House with huge, awesome statues in front. Italians don't actually like the structure because it is so opulent and at the time many Italians were below the poverty line. They actually call it the "Wedding Cake" in Rome as a derogatory term. The buildings on the sides of the piazza served as Mussolini's headquarters as well as the Venetian Embassy for when Italy was not a country (Italy is actually "younger" than us, gaining nationhood in 1871) but just a collection of city-states.
The Roman Forum was next and the guide actually did a decent job painting a picture of how grand Rome must have looked in its prime. The Forum had enough marble to build 12 Westminster Abbeys, and when generals came back to Rome after a triumph (not just a win, but having met a certain set of requirements guaranteed total obliteration) they would march the conquered general up to the top of the Forum and slit his throat or strangle him to death with a mechanized noose in front of all the citizens and soldiers. Also, the Forum served as a marketplace and a podium for officials to disseminate information to the citizens.
Our last stop was the Colloseum, whose real name is the Flavian Amphitheater. It took only 8 years to build and served to entertain 65,000 Roman citizens at a time for free! Unfortunately as most of you know, the entertainment was quite gruesome. Anyone who is reading this who has a weak stomach or a fondness for animals should skip to the next paragraph (especially you Mom). The good news is that 90 percent of gladitorial battles ended without death. The bad news is that in a one week period, 9,000 animals were slaughtered and in another 100 day period, 5,000 animals and 10,000 men were slaughtered. They held public executions and mock naval battles in the Colloseum, but the worst part was the slaughter of animals. They killed all sorts of animals from all parts of Asia and Africa, but their favorite animal to kill was the giraffe (they defend themselves by swinging their necks at the aggresor, who in this case happens to be wielding a sword, I'll let you do the math). Whitney and I both came away shocked by the amount of blood spilled in Ancient Rome, and wondering how desensitized the people of the time were to violence, gore and death.
After contemplating how to let Busabout, who reccomended the tour, and the tour company know how dissatisfied we were with the guide, we headed back to our room that has air-conditioning and a shower. We had a nice dinner of salami, cheese and bread, which has become our standby. Just as we tried to use the internet to get in touch with everyone, the internet went out on us for the second night in a row. We met our roommate Brett, a young high school math teacher from South Dakota who teaches and lives in Alaska.
Tomorrow, we will attempt to see the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps and the Vatican. Thanks for reading and enjoy the photos, with many more on Facebook!