Since it was a Saturday we figured we’d do a bunch of large space, outdoorsy stuff. We consulted our trusty guidebook and read about the Caesar Shuffle. The Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill. The Colosseum was just as fantastic as I remembered it! But this time I didn’t get haggled by the silly men dressed as gladiators. Phew! We decided to do the official audio-tour, which offered a tad more information than our guidebook. As it was quite hot in the sun we often sought the shelter of the shaded areas to have a listen. For the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill we went with Rick…he really never let us down! Not much to actually write…I’ll let the pictures do the talking for us!
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Not sure if I was posing or if Dave had just said something!
Notice the cool audio-guide?! |
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| Dave rockin' the yellow shorts! <3 |
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| LITTLE DOOR!!!! |
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Outside the Colosseum...the girl taking the photo
didn't get the message to get the actual Colosseum in
the photo though! Oh well! Too bad the one Dave took
for her and her family was awesome!!! |
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| My little photographer! |
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| Palatine Hill |
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| Can you see the balloon??? |
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| Hehehe! I got your nose!!! |
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| I got no head!!! I got no arms!!! |
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| Can you spot the moon??? |
That night, seeing as we’d done loads of walking already, we figured a little more wouldn’t hurt. We’d read in the guidebook about a night walk beginning at Campo de’ Fiori and ending at the Spanish steps. Seeing as we “lived” at the steps we figured it was perfect! But how to get to the beginning. We had a couple options. 1-walk there (but then have to turn around and walk the whole thing again). 2-taxi (weren’t sure on the price but it could work). 3-metro (I was getting really good at figuring out all the transfers and such but this option wasn’t really the best as there wasn’t a metro stop near our starting point). 4-a carriage ride (this was my 1st choice but I wasn’t sure Dave was going to go for it!). Well, I must say I was surprised! Dave was more than willing to take a carriage to our starting point (I don’t think it hurt that I said it would be my treat). We agreed to a max price we’d be willing to pay for the ride. When we asked the first carriage how much it would cost to get to our beginning we were offered the price of 150.00 (which is really 225.00 US dollars). Um, can you say NO WAY JOSE! So we walked. And had a good laugh! We asked another driver who said 100.00. Um…nope! We continued to walk. A third driver said he could do it for 75.00. Still a negative ghost-rider. Finally a guy asked how much we wanted to pay. We said 30. He said 60. We said 30. He said 50. Final deal. We said 35. He said he’d do it for 40 with no tour. We said fine (it was actually below what our max point was). As we rode we couldn’t believe that some people probably do pay the 150. I feel bad for them! They don’t know any better. But then, I’m not the best at bargaining…that’s kinda Dave’s thing. He’s also taught me that you have to be willing to just walk away sometimes. The carriage ride was a blast! Really a ton of fun. Something I’d wanted to do with Dave forever and finally got to do it!!
The night walk…we began the mile long walk (we took it leisurely so it took us about an hour and a half) at the Campo de’ Fiori then along to the Piazza Navona which is home to the Four Rivers Fountain in the center and two smaller fountains at either end (plus some FANTASTIC gelato!). We listened to some great live music. We came across an artist using spray paint to create art…yes…spray paint. We saw a few of these before but never really paid much attention. Well, this time she was just beginning so we stopped to watch for a while. As she was working the picture wasn’t really coming out like the others she had on display and Dave questioned (quietly to me) if she really did the ones she was selling. But as we watched this lovely night scene of the Colosseum came to life before our eyes. Okay…she really did paint(?) the other ones too! As she was beginning her next painting and offering the one she just made for sale like the others Dave asked me if I liked it. I said yes, it really was nicely done. He asked if I liked it enough to own it. I said sure! So we paid the 10 euros and it was ours. The coolest part of the whole thing is that we SAW her paint it! Insert really big smiley face here! As we walked away, painting in hand, we both had a laugh at how we surprised ourselves. We both never thought we’d actually own a spray paint picture and here we were, lost in the romance of ancient Rome with a newly acquired piece of art! How lovely. Anyways, back to the walk.
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Fahrenheit 451 was the name of the bookstore!
How fitting!
PS. You can see the flowers here...I think this is one of the few pics! |
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| Not quite the WI State Fair...but close(?!) |
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| Working on our pic |
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| Still working |
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| Almost finished |
Next stop was the Pantheon. What an incredible building! It was built like 2000 years ago! And the roof is composed of concrete that gets lighter and thinner as it gets higher. It is also as tall as it is wide. Crazy! It’s just beautiful all light up at night!
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HA! I figured out that you didn't have to put your
mouth under it...you could just as easily block
the water with your hand and it would come out the top! |
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| If HE can spit why can't I??? |
From there we walked to Piazza Colonna…not as impressive as we had hoped…not much to report. We didn’t stay there very long.
We continued on to the Trevi Fountain! One of my favorite places! I know the real legend is that if you throw a coin into the fountain it means you will one day find your way back to Rome. Well, having seeing movies such as “When in Rome” and “3 Coins in the Fountain” I couldn’t help but take the romantic route as we were there…I threw all 3 coins in! I’d been saving good, shiney, pretty coins to throw in! I even saved 3 for Dave! And he threw 3 in! Thanks honey!
After the Trevi Fountain we made our way back to the Spanish Steps! (We forgot to take pics at night! Oops!) We truly enjoyed the entire walk. It was late but it was a lot of fun to see the “monuments” at night and just be out there with Dave. We had great conversation while we walked! I’d forgotten how much I truly enjoy walking at night! Maybe I’ll be able to convince my mom and dad to go for a walk or two a week with me this fall! If for no other reason than to get out of the house! Just a thought! That was the same thought I had when I arrived her this summer…Dave and I would take a walk or a run a night…hmmm…let’s see! The run count together is 3…the walk count a little higher at about 7-10. (Not counting walks on holiday!)
OH…I forgot to mention the surprise I got at dinner! Dave bought me three red roses from a street vendor! I was getting so good at saying a stern NO and walking away from them…but one came up to us at dinner and I said no…but Dave called them back and got 3! And he didn’t even try to bargain!!! Such a sweetie! <3
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