When we got to Rome we had to get another driver, but since
our Rome apartment was a lot further away than the one in Chamonix we couldn’t
take a shuttle. This time we had a guy in a black car that drove like a crazy
man. Of course that was my opinion. I am used to my dad’s driving. He is a very
cautious driver. He hates to go above the speed limit or come close. The guy
driving us was pushing 130 kilometer per hour which is about 80 miles per hour.
On the bright side we got to our apartment in about 30 minutes. That night we
got pizza just because we were in Italy, and Italian pizza is supposed to be
good. Let me tell you, Positive Pie does a better job.
The next day we did our sightseeing. We got up early and
took the metro to the Coliseum. There we met up with our tour group for the Coliseum
and the Roman Forum. Since we were in a tour we got to skip the line which was
lucky because that line was really long. After we got through Coliseum security
we saw the thing its self. If you were a regular tourist you were on one side
of the arena, but all the tour groups were on a special reconstructed part so
that we could see what it used to look like. All the while our guide was
telling us about the history of the place. Some of the more recent history was
about the cleaning of the arena. The marble used to build the Coliseum picks up
dirt and grime very well, so it must be cleaned otherwise it would be brownish
black. Once we were in the Coliseum but not in the arena we saw evidence of
this. The ceiling was pitch black. They hadn’t cleaned it, so all the dirt was
still there.
She also told us about how the name Coliseum came to be.
Right before the Coliseum was built Nero had ruled. Nero is arguably the worst
emperor of Rome. In addition to many other crimes he was one of the worst
dictators in history and committed matricide. He also commissioned a 98 foot
tall bronze statue of himself and demanded to be treated like a god. This
statue was called the Colossus of Nero, and after his death it was repurposed
to worship the sun god. It stood outside the Coliseum for years, and soon the Coliseum,
meaning colossal theatre, got its’ name.
Finally she told us about the name arena. Arena floors were
always covered in sand. Sand in Latin is harenae pronounced “arenare” then it
was shortened to arena.
After seeing the arena floor we went underneath to see where
the trap doors and lifts were. All the stuff underneath was better preserved
than the above ground because the underground hadn’t been subjected to the
elements.
Next we saw the third tier of the Coliseum. Up there we
could see the entire arena, so we got the best pictures.
That was it for the Coliseum. Next we went to the Roman Forum
where markets and social gatherings happened.
There wasn’t a lot to see there except a bunch of crumbling columns, but
it was where our guide told us more about the history of the city.
That was the end of our tour, but we still went on to see some
of the other things on our list. The next stop was the Pantheon. I was mostly
interested in the architecture of the place. I had heard that the ceiling of
the Pantheon was really cool, and it was true. It had been carved with a square
within square pattern which gave it an almost hypnotic effect.
Next we went to the Trevi Fountain. The Trevi Fountain is a
big fountain with statues of gods everywhere. Needless to say it was one of our
shorter stops.
Our last stop was The Spanish Steps. We didn’t stay long
because we were exhausted, but they were basically a big set of stairs. By that
point we didn’t know
or care what they were about. We walked home, and I took a
nap.
A couple days later we went to Naples, Italy. From Naples we
took a short train ride to Pompeii. Anyone who had Mr. Q might remember Pompeii,
but if you don’t I’m going to go over it again. In the year 76 AD the city of
Pompeii suffered a crushing defeat. The nearby volcano, Mount Vesuvius erupted
and coated the city in ash which then solidified into rock. Some of the inhabitants
were also coated in ash and died. Eventually the bodies
decomposed and left
stone shells of Pompeians. When archeologists found these shells they poured
plaster into them, and violá they had statues of the people as they were dying.
Since the city was covered in ash for thousands of years it avoided being
pillaged, so it is in pretty good condition. My dad had found this app that had
a bunch of self guided tours on it, so we did the one on Pompeii and learned
about the place as we went. Once we were done we went back to Naples and went
to bed.
Our next stop was very different than the others. We went to
an island called Ischia and relaxed in a thermal spring resort. Since Ischia is
a volcanic island there are naturally heated springs that the resort pumped around
into caves and other pools. All day we relaxed in steamy caves. Only one of
them wasn’t that relaxing. This one was a square of water with one side heated
to 65
degrees Fahrenheit and the other heated to 100. The idea was to walk
around it five times. The difference in temperature was supposed to trigger
your lymphatic system and make you feel good. It didn’t work.
That was it for Italy. I was sad to leave, but Greece was
next. I love Greek and Roman mythology, but Rome adopted many of Greece’s gods when
they took over, so their religion was second hand. That’s why I was excited to
go to Greece, and see the home of the gods.
The game was amazing, even though it wasn’t much of a match.
FCBarcelona was playing Osasuna. FCBarcelona at the time was 2nd in
their league. Osasuna was last in the league. It ended 7-1 with Barcelona
winning and Osasuna getting their only goal from a penalty kick. We saw Messi
score twice which was pretty cool. The energy 
