Colosseum and Gelato (which of those was more important?) (Day 25)

                                                                                                 Friday, July 1
Hello!
  What a great day!  This hotel is much quieter than our previous ones.  Breakfast was peaceful, and of course, delicious.  I'm starting to like eating breakfast, this could be problematical since I don't think I can get anyone to come in and cook it for me every morning.  oh well.
   We visited the Colosseum (huge and old-70AD).  The animals and gladiators stayed underground in an area that did not have much fresh air.  We were told that the Christians were not slain here--they had other places for them to be killed.  We were all relieved after hearing that!
   We went up to the 2 floor by elevator.  Dad made a joke about them having elevators in 70AD.  Hah--they actually did!  It took 8 men to raise/lower them and there were loads of them to get the animals from the underground part up to the big arena.
   Next was Circus Maximus (long and even older--600BC).  You can see the long track where they held the races.  They were setting up for a concert--Bruce Springsteen!  The Stones also had a concert here.  Somehow "Born in the USA" doesn't really fit the ambience of Rome's history.
   Then we went to the Forum (starting 600BC and finishing with a single column built in 608AD--I think that falls under the 'old' category).  We were looking at it from above, and the lines from the columns were quite nice.
   Senate Hill was next.  It is one of the 7 hills of Rome.  (let's go with 'older than the hills' on this one).  Some of statues on Senate Hill were uncovered by Michelangelo and his friends.  As students they would go around the city and try to dig up old statues and study them.  Take note--our wonderful guide introduced this topic by saying these are 'new' statues--only 3 centuries old.  'New' in the same sentence as Michelangelo?  Americans have a very different perspective of new and old!  This is also the place of the first museum in Rome.  Just to be clear--not Michelangelo of Turtle fame.
   Lastly, we went to the Pantheon.  Originally it was a big pagan church, but the Catholics changed it to the Basilica Santa Maria, so it wasn't destroyed during the Dark Ages (4-1,400AD).  It has a big hole in the domed ceiling (8 meters across) that lets in all the rain.  So the floor is slanted downward from the center, and has drains in it so it doesn't flood in the church.  
   Then we stopped for gelato.  Each flavor was in a silver tub with a lid.  On the wall was a temperature gage for each of the tubs.  Depending on the flavor, the temperature was set so it stayed fresh.  I can vouch for ginger/cinnamon and cocao chocolate.  Dang tasty.  We went back to the hotel, just in time to miss the afternoon heat.  We are relaxing before deciding what to do about dinner.  It is nice to go from breakfast to dinner, with just a small snack in between.
   Dad is looking a bit older today.  Since we have 2 bathrooms, my Jeju sea salt cleanser was not available to him this morning.  I might have to sacrifice and give it to him.  I surely don't want to be responsible for his aging.  Wait, if you ask him, he would say that all of his children are responsible for that!  Never mind.
   Happy July 1st!
amy
   Disclaimer--  If any dates or information is incorrect, please let me know.  I'm sure it is a typo error!   We take notes as our guide is speaking, and Molly is on her iPad checking the dates and information as I write, but I have heard rumors that sometimes Google makes mistakes.  :(

Dad at the alter in the Pantheon. 

               

Putting the selfie stick to use at the Colosseum.  

Colosseum without those 3 dumb tourists photo bombing.

Every gate except one has a number carved in it above the arch.  This one is 54.  The one entrance without a number is where the emperor went in.

Just inside the Colosseum 

Pano of the Colosseum.

The part in the center (not the white chairs) was underground and where the animals and gladiators waited to go up.  Very hot and smelly with very little air circulation--and no air conditioning.  

Another pano?  Just being sure you are getting the size of this place!  And to think it was built in about 7 years.  Drew and Ashley are trying to buy this very nice house in Fargo.  At the rate it's going (all the paperwork and settling of issues), it might take longer than 7 years!

A better photo of the underground part.  Can you make these pictures bigger?  If so, the rows in the center of this are where the elevators were. 

Oh--I should have looked ahead.  Here are the elevators. 

Dad.  Pensive.  

Arch of Constantine.  As seen (that's a bit formal) from the Colosseum.  Dad thought the trees behind it looked like a dragon.  In fact they are Roman Pine Cone trees.  Also known as Umbrella trees. 

Circus Maximus.  Here is part of the track.  In the background is the palace of the emperor.  He didn't have to fight all the traffic to get to the games--he could look out his window.  And on the other side of his palace, he could watch the Forum activities.  Easy life! 

Close up of a part of the palace that is still standing.

An old Roman bath.  They call this Big Nose.  

This fountain was next to Big Nose.  Water continually ran out the spout, but if you put your fingers over the spout, then the water would come out of a hole in the top of the pipe, and it turned into a drinking fountain!   

We went to a nunnery with a garden.  I couldn't tell you the name, but we had a nice view of the city.  Here is the Basilica of St. Peter.

The Forum.  (pano)

Another of the Forum

And another 

Senate Hill.  This is the first museum in Rome.

One of the statues (Egyptian) in front of the Senate building.

The alter inside the Pantheon/Basilica Santa Maria.

A pano of the inside of the Pantheon.

The 8 meter hole in the roof of the Pantheon. 

Another photo from the nunnery.  The dome on the far right is the Jewish dome.  They wanted to keep in the 'dome' theme, but they wanted to make theirs different.  So they made it square-ish.

Dad drinking from the fountain.

At the Colosseum.  Wait.  I think I have one of these.  I'll leave this one until I have time to check the photos in this post.  Yes--I am aware of the massive number of pictures in this particular article.  This 'awareness' would be due to my thinking as I write each caption, this one MUST be the last one, but there seem to always be more!

The Pantheon from the outside.

Dad and Piera/guide at the Colosseum

Ahhh!  Gelato . . . Italy's answer to ice cream--and soooo much better.  Our goal is to have it at least once a day.  We are on track so far.  :))