On Friday, Rome was rainy. We had breakfast at our hotel and started to walk toward the Roman Forum in the drizzle. On our way out, we saw that a tree a few blocks from our hotel had been hit by lightning in the thunderstorm the night before. The blackened stump was being demolished by several chainsaws, and the scene was surrounded by excited locals and police people.

The crowd around the tree (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Streets flooded by rain (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We wandered toward the Colosseum with a map for guidance. Although the map showed the general area in green, it did not show the massive, ancient wall between our hotel and the Roman Forum. We walked along the wall until we found a narrow road that showed occasional patches of cobblestones under the pavement. There was no sidewalk, so we ducked out of the way of cars whenever necessary. After walking by several tall and intimidating gates in the wall, we found that one belonged to the Canadian Embassy. After a few more minutes of walking, we gave up and used Jason’s phone to figure out how to get out of the car-dominated embassy maze.

The Canadian Embassy (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We found our way to the Circo Massimo, and we were suddenly surrounded by huge ruins. After walking through the Capitoline Museo, we joined the line of tourists waiting to buy tickets for the Colosseum (it was Friday, and rainy, but there were still a lot of groups). I’m sure I can’t say anything original about the Colosseum, but I’ll say this. It was massive; it was intricately built; it was crumbling. Jason found facts about the structure on his Rome app. It turns out that it was partially funded by the raiding and pillaging of Jerusalem (Jason was irritated to still have to pay 12 euro to get in) and that before the maze of tunnels was built under the floor, it could be flooded for water-based entertainment. Unfortunately, the potential for gladiator fights with sea monsters was put to an end by Titus, who decided that the space was needed for animal cages and equipment. I should note that some Googling revealed that this whole flooding the Colosseum thing is still under debate, but we decided to go with it.

Nicole reaches out toward Jupiter (we think) at the Capitoline Mueso (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The Colosseum (Photo/Jason Rafal)

For lunch, we looked for a place recommended by the same app, but ended up going to a restaurant next door instead. We were serenaded by a saxophone player, who played Stevie Wonder and posed for pictures with us before demanding five euro. After our bruschetta and pasta (delicious), we struck up a conversation with the Russian sitting at the table next to us as Jason drank his post-meal cappuccino. In broken but understandable English, he explained that he traveled to Rome for work frequently, and he gushed about how much he loved the woman who owned the restaurant. He told us that this particular trip to Italy was because they always went somewhere for his boss’s birthday. Our friend had wanted to go to Havana, but he settled for Venice at the boss’s request.

Jason and the saxaphone player (Photo/Nicole Harrison, who was somehow unable to make Jason’s camera, which was on autofocus, focus)

Roman street (Photo/Jason Rafal)

 After lunch, we visited the Roman Forum. The forum feels like an assortment of crumbling bits of buildings that were dumped into a pit in the middle of the city. There are a lot of pillars and bits of pillars, half-walls, and inscribed stones. I found it extremely difficult to actually feel the age of the Roman Forum; it’s simply too old for me to relate to. It’s definitely awesome, and it’s wonderful that it’s preserved in the city center, but I can’t picture it actually being used. Maybe I need to watch some more reenactment movies.

A tourist stands in the rain and looks over the Roman Forum (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Nicole in the Roman Forum (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The Roman Forum was dotted with cats that lived among the ruins. Most of them stayed away from the human-populated areas, far out of reach of the retaining chains, but one was sitting right next to the walkway, and when I knelt down, she walked up and rubbed on my hand for a minute before politely (but firmly) walking away and sitting on the other side of the fence.

The forum cat decides that it has had enough of Nicole (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After a visit to the Jewish ghetto, near the Fiume Tevere, we started the long walk home. Jason’s feet are not in great shape, but hopefully we will be able to continue adventuring tomorrow. We have sampled pizza and pasta, but we are behind on wine. 

Sunset in Rome (Photo/Jason Rafal)