When in Rome...Roam

Over the years and not necessarily in this order we did a bus tour in Scotland. Cruised in the Aegean Sea. Visited The Romantic Road in Germany in a car. Another time, in another car, checked out the Southwest. In 2017 we stumbled upon a very convenient way to tour. One of Peg’s sisters was in a couple’s wine club preparing to tour the Burgundy Region. One of the couples begged off. We took their spot. The tour guide was the youngest winner (14) of the French vintner’s award. He knew everyone and they knew him. We unpacked in Bonne, France and took day trips from there. Not having to pack up and move every couple of days was the key to having a better experience.

In Rome, our “Bonne” would be The Maison Tritone, a cozy little B&B within walking distance of the Spanish Steps, Borghese Museum, and Trevi Fountain. To be clear, there were days the concept of ‘walking distance’ served, more or less, as a euphemism as my left meniscus was, at times, an unwilling partner in the journey. That notwithstanding I motored on. The B&B kept my ice sleeve frozen.

Rome attracts a lot of people. Many of them were at our first tour, the Vatican Museum and St. Peters, an hour before it opened. The general admission line was ‘I camped out overnight’ long. There were mere hundreds in our ‘skip the line’ group. While we got in an hour earlier the ‘camping’ folks still caught up to us in the Sistine Chapel where we stood shoulder to shoulder to view the splendor of it all. Then, suddenly it seemed, we were in St. Peters. It was massive. There were markers on the floor showing how St. Patrick’s in New York or The Notre Dame in Paris, to name a couple, would’ve neatly fit inside. If it sounds like I’m giving the tour a lick and a prayer, then you’ve caught my drift. I saw so much beautiful art I couldn’t look at but for a glance. I felt let down.

The next day we toured the Colosseum. We began at 9am. There were crowds but there was space, a lot of space. Our guide was full of historical information, a plus for me, a history nerd. Construction began in the early 70s CE and was funded largely by the spoils from the First Jewish-Roman War in 70 CE. Spoils from war were how all empires were funded back in the day. Thousands of Jewish slaves worked on its construction. Opening in 80 CE the inaugural games saw 9,000 animals killed. These games could go on for up to 120 days, but admission was free. Wealthy individuals and politicians (the Khans and Scotts of their time) would underwrite the cost of the games and had the best seats. The next best group was behind them and so on till at the very top where women sat. Gravediggers, former gladiators, and actors were barred from attending. I found it all a thought-provoking cultural dichotomy…Bread and Circuses. Unlike the Hollywood spin, gladiators were valuable and popular. The good ones were kept alive. Most were slaves though successful combatants could gain their freedom. Some retired and became managers of gladiators.

The games went on for centuries. When the Roman Emperor Constantine ordered the conversion of the entire empire to Christianity and moved the Empirical Capitol to Constantinople around 330 CE, Rome began to empty and the Colosseum faded into the backwaters of history. The city’s population tanked. At one point there were less than 50,000 Romans in the city when, before, there were more than 1,000,000. Managing the basic everyday needs of the city became problematic. For instance, the natural tidal events of the Tiber River were not managed as they were when the city was fully occupied. Over the centuries the lowlands were covered by the ebb and flow. Locals eventually forgot the grandeur of empirical Rome. It was a great tour led by an engaging guide.

Next up Pompeii.

Thanks