Roma - The empire in ruins

Rome is hot, dirty, disorganized, frustrating and quite frankly a beautiful mess. It's both exciting and wonderful in many ways yet frustrating and disappointing in others. Today we toured the Coliseum, the Roman forum, Pantheon and threw in the Fontana di Trevi for good measure. The easy way to do this is take a cab from a hotel. Nope - not us baby. Public transit in 37 degree weather. You run the gauntlet of pickpockets all day with a steady stream of sweat running down you back or elsewhere. Not only that - the metro and train systems for Rome are...well....sketchy. The doors often don't work so its hard to get off and on and results in mad panic on the platform. Stations may be closed without notice. Time schedules are more of a general suggestion than something you set your watch by. There was a horrible accident last night when a train derailed and burst into flame. Makes you kinda nervous. Mussolini - where are you! (Kidding - it was said that he made the trains run on time.

Quick side bar - Mussolini's son said at dinner one night. "Dad - what is Fascism?" "shut up sand eat your peas roared Benito!!" By the way - even though he is one of the most "famous" figures in Italian history, he does not appear anywhere. Guess he kinda went the wrong way on that whole Hitler thing.



Pictured here is the train. The graffiti is everywhere in Rome (and Pisa for that matter) This is just one car with grafitti on it but I would say 40% of them are covered. It is everywhere and for me begs the question - hey guys - do you really care about your city? That said - much of it is really well done. What would Raphael have said about this fresco?????

I understand the graffiti problem has been ongoing for over 500 years. Some things never change.




So on to the Coliseum. There is no doubt that it is one of the most significant structures left behind by our Roman friends. Its massive - It's awe inspiring - and it's clearly very old.The structure is badly deteriorated but still gives a window into the glory days of the Empire. Not much else to be said - it has to be seen to be a appreciated. You take a moment and transport yourself back to the days when the Gladiators battled for their reputations - the cost of failure being death. The lions vs. the criminals. What a time that was. It's like UFC with a turbo charger. I added this picture of the kids who appear to be happy. They are doing a great job of absorbing the history and balancing that with having fun.



 We are practising Italian words and phrases as we go along and our phrase for the day is "Mi sono cadute le braccia" which literally means. I throw my arms down. More generally it means I have had enough and just can't believe this. I am indignant. So you have to say it with a bit of gusto - just the way the Italians do.

So that leads me to my comments on the Roman Forum. Pictured below are the ruins of what is likely the most historically significant real estate of Western civilization. This is where Julius Caesar celebrated, gained support for his ambitious campaigns from the senators and ultimately was assassinated by those same people.

 
Directly above are the ruins of the forum - to the right a nice young businessman selling his genuine wares from the remains of the top of a column in a small park. Prada! Gucci! Coach! Get it all right here!!!!! All real too!
So here's my point - and I may be way off base here but are these not historical treasures of all humanity? Should we not be doing more to protect these? I guess when you have so many "chunks - o - history" why not use some for practical purposes. "Mi sono cadute le braccia"

 Jake and I found our way into an old Church. We are still not sure how we got in and down into the basement but there we came across the skeletal remains one of the priests in a glass case. Super creepy. And as we poked around we found a secret hidden door that we think was to escape if the congregation didn't buy your message....or the barbarians stormed the church. I felt like Harrison Ford for just a few minutes..... We were ushered out of there shortly after but a great experience none the less.

We went on to visit the Pantheon which is now a museum. It is particularly impressive from the approach seen below.

Pictured below that is the Fontana di Trevi. I have talked elsewhere about my love of great public places. This is certainly one. There are people to watch, places to sit and an overwhelming sense of peace and tranquility in the center of one of the busiest cities on the planet. While clearly an historically important place, for me its much more than that. It's supports my notion that well-designed public places are of incalculable importance to cities of yesterday, today and definitely tomorrow.

Brigitte in front of the Pantheon attempting to kiss one of the handsome Italian guards. Not again....

Fontana di Trevi - one of my favorite place so far.