Rome, Day 1, Morning

For want of a better algorithm, we decided that we would follow Rick Steve's "Rome In Three Days" instructions.  For the first day, he recommended that we go see the Colosseum, the Forum and the Pantheon in the morning, and (after a siesta) a walk from Piazza del Popolo to the Spanish Steps in the evening.

So we climbed aboard the tram at Tor Pignattara station (about 200 yards from our pensione) and rode it to Roma Termini, where we took Linea B to Colosseo station (prossima fermata: Colloseo. Uscita lato, destro!)

Tor Pignattara (courtesy Google Street View!)

It was quite a long walk from the tram stop at Roma Termini to the metro station, so we started taking the bus instead. It took longer, but dropped us off right at the metro station.  Our Roma pass covered all transport, so we were able to hop on any bus without thinking about it. (But -- contrary to Rick Steve's assertions -- we couldn't get the Roma pass in any tabacchi, and had to get it at Termini.

The Roma pass let us into three attractions for free, so we bypassed the ticket-buying line at the Colosseum and went straight in.

Of course, the Colosseum is such a familiar landmark from countless pictures we've seen that there isn't much of a surprise when you do finally behold it.  I have a feeling that it's some atavistic allure of the macabre history that makes it fascinating. Thousands of people were killed here in dramatic and inventive ways, for entertainment, even as the culture of the time was quite enlightened along so many other axes.  Makes you wonder about our species.

I did remember the Bruce Lee - Chuck Norris fight in the Colosseum in Return Of The Dragon, particularly the chest hair ripping bit!

Surprisingly, Shishir knew about it, too.

Lots of photo ops, of course, but lots of tourists, too, and the bright midday sun wasn't that great for taking epic pictures.  Still, got a few nice ones.

A view of the Forum from the Colosseum

A somewhat less traditional view of this ancient hall of horrors

Shashank was happy with his gift shop purchase

Walking from the Colosseum to the Forum (not particularly pleasant in the hot sun, especially after a wrong turn), we saw this pair.

I'm pretty sure not a single person was actually taken in by this (you can see the support under his shirt), but it must be good business because we several other pairs doing the exact same act elsewhere in Rome.  Well, the dude being held aloft must have some balance skills, I suppose.

We traipsed around the Forum for about half an hour.  To be honest, I had a hard time getting excited about it.  It is impressive that they're as much left as there is, after two millennia, but that's only in the abstract.  Perhaps a real tour guide would have imbued it with some significance that was lost on us.

Found a place to eat right across the street from the Colosseum.  Vimala ate a sandwich (mozzarella and tomato) and the rest of us ate spaghetti with marinara.  And gelato.

It had started to rain ever so slightly by the time we finished lunch, and we didn't really feel like walking anyway, so we took a bus to the Pantheon (the next stop in Rick Steve's itinerary). Well, it was near the Pantheon. We still had to walk by the column of Marcus Aurelius.  As we found out soon enough, the Romans love their columns, pillars and obelisks.

Column of Marcus Aurelius

The Pantheon wasn't actually built by Marcus Agrippa, according to Wikipedia

The dome is actually open at the top (the hole is the oculus), so it was raining inside the Pantheon. Well, more like a leaky roof.  Considering that it's almost two thousand years old, it's surprising that there aren't leaks anywhere else.

It was somewhat crowded inside the Pantheon, but the light was quite nice.  My pictures don't do justice, but here's one.

Is the entire interior as old as the superstructure?

As we were standing there, a man came up to me and asked if I was Indian.  I fessed up, so he launched into barely comprehensible, almost-Punjabi Hindi.  With some difficulty, I gathered that he wanted to know what there was to see in Rome.  I said, "खंडहर" (ruins), which may not have been too helpful.

Rick Steve recommended that we adjourn for a siesta before evening activity, so (ever the obedient tourists) we took the train back to our flophouse.  I remember walking a lot to get to the Barberini station.