We woke up early and headed out for the day ... first stop the Colosseum. We were prepared fo the crowds, but it was really quite intense. Luckily the advance tickets gave us a way to go by lots of folks, and our only wait was to get the audio guide. We saw the Rome Universal exhibit on the second floor, which had artifacts and wonderful historical info on the Colosseum and ancient and Medieval Rome, really enjoyed that, gave some great perspective. When we finally emerged out into the sunlight of the Colosseum, it was definitely a wow moment. The immensity of it really hits you, as does the fact that this was built almost 2,000 years ago and all the metal supports have been removed. I would not want to be there in an earthquake. There was a huge mass of people everywhere ... folks shoving their selfie sticks almost in your face, groups plowing through an area with no regard to the people already there, it was a bit tiring. But we really enjoyed the sense of history and the short tour, perhaps next time we will do the underground where all the cool machinery was located.
Then we took the Metro to the Spanish Steps, and got out for some photos. It was, as I remember it, underwhelming, pretty but not all that special, but lots of people. We then walked down to the Trevi Fountain, where there were MOBS of people. It was a little unnerving, as people jostled for position, I could not wait to get out of there. We walked to the bus stop and took the good old #87 over to the Capitoline Museum. Needing some lunch, we found a sweet place and had our first pizza and salad, just what we needed. We then went to the Capitoline Museum, the perfect antidote to the crowds. Here were relatively few people, amazing works of art, and a chance to really understand Roman history and archaeology. The special setting of the Marcus Aurelius statue was quite lovely. The Caravaggios, the Greek statues, the Medieval paintings, the Tintorettos, the Rubens, all were amazing. In one huge room filled with paintings were six cabinets inlaid with precious stones and colored marbles, absolutely beautiful. The highlight was the She-wolf nursing Romulus and Remus (even though the children were added later during the Medieval period), the wolf was gorgeous, all kinds of different effects to indicate her fur in different places. Truly astonishing that this has survived for 2,000 years. Then we went up to the overlook, took lots of photos of the view, and had an aperitif.
Back on the us to the loft, packing up, and getting ready to head out tomorrow morning. we went to a neighborhood place we had walked by. Had a nice simple salad, fish, and risotto, and climbed into bed. Tomorrow to Naples ...
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