Roman Holiday

Ok, so maybe Rome isn't quite the way Audrey Hepburn would remember it but we find this pulsing city, the heart of the Roman Empire, quite charming and romantic with its fill of ancient relics.

Our first excursion in Rome is the Catacomb of Domitilla, one of the 40 discovered underground burial sites from the 2nd century. For public sanitation it was law that these burial grounds lie outside of the city limits. This particular catacomb is the oldest found in Rome, with 15 km of underground caves that are accessed from a sunken church. It is believed that over 150,000 burials occurred here. All of the remains have been removed from the tombs but you can still see the chambers were families or workers of similar trades were buried together. After enjoying the cool underground air it was back to the living with a free walking tour. We went with a different company Rome Free Tours. They were still decent but not as informative as the others we had taken in Germany. We visited the Spanish Steps, Fontana di Trevi, Pantheon, and Piazza Navona where we witnessed the most entertaining site thus far on our trip, check it out!

Next day we get ready for our visit with Pope Benedict XVI, the 265th pope in Vatican City. He had some important pope business so we didn't get to see him but we did visit the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica. We admired paintings and sculptures from namely Raphael and Michelangelo while dodging zombie tour groups. The Sistine Chapel he Colosseum to was impressive with the painting of Judgment Day across the front wall and different scenes along the ceiling. Michelangelo did not want to take the commission for painting the ceiling as he felt he was a sculptor, not a painter, and that the pope was too lavish in his chapel design. However, this 12,000 sq ft of painted ceiling became Michelangelo's masterpiece. We avoided being struck by lightning the whole day and met up with Niam and Cindy, friends from back home, for a delicious Italian dinner.

In the morning we walk down to tabsorb some history. This massive amphitheatre was completed in 80 A.D. after only 10 years of construction and the Romans held 100 days of games in celebration. Performances were free to the public and could seat 40,000 to 70,000 spectators; however, certain groups were shunned like gravediggers, actors, and former gladiators. Gladiators had to fight about 2 times a year with an average life expectancy of 30 years, but that was not much shorter than the average person. People would take passageways called “vomitoria” to enter and exit from their seats, which translates into Latin as “rapid discharge” or in English “Vomit.” The arena floor hides a two-level maze of tunnels and cages where gladiators and animals were kept. Elevators and pulleys raised and lowered props, fighters, and animals to the surface of the floor. Above the stadium a retractable awning could be extended across in the event of poor weather. After the Colosseum we headed over to the Roman Forum which was the center of the Republic and gathering place for locals. We spent our last night in Rome with a fancy meal and a view of the illuminated Colosseum.