friends, countrymen, lend me your ears...
So said Marc antony at the end of Shakespeare's JULIUS CAESAR. Today, we saw not only, the burnging place of Caesar's body, but his house, his nephew's palace, the senate house of ancient Rome, and the very spot where Russell Crowe began that muscular slick-haired Roman butt kicker we all know and love (see the title of this blog).
We started the day at our new hostel--Happy Days Roma. I was skeptical at first, mostly because they charge for breakfast and don't lock their doors, but this place rocks. Molly and I finished off the oatmeal we've been carrying around for two weeks--complete with a few cookies that we found in the kitchen...goood. After breakfast, we took our time getting ready and then headed out into Rome. Our hostel is right on the wall of the Vatican, so of course, we payed old Benedict a visit at the local starbucks...just kidding. Actually, we headed to the colloseum and its surrounding ancient neighborhood across the Tibre river. We purchased the 11 euro pass that gives you entrance into the Colloseum, Palatine Hill, and the old Roman Forum, and had a ball strolling on the same ''basalt stones on which Augustus once walked on his way to the senate'' (according to my book). Starting with Palatine hill, the ancient Pennsylvania Avenue for the emporers of Rome, we were able to see the home of Augustus (which was standing when Christ was born...''I wonder if he saw the star''...we asked). It still had the marble floors and a fresco on the wall, although we also saw some coke bottles and cig butts that I doubt were as old. Behind the palace, we got to see the Circus Maximus--ancient and private chariot track for the emporer's viewing pleasure. We finished off the Palatial neighborhood by checking out the extra-ancient huts of Romulus (supposedly). Remembered as the barbarian child who was raised by a she-wolf with his brother Remus, who grew up to capture the Sabine women and impregnate them, and who eventually founded Rome (which bears his name) with the subsequent babies, Romulus was a cool guy and his huts were a pretty surreal thing to take in. From the hill we made our way into the Roman Forum.
Think Times Square, except with mosaics instead of neon Sean jean ads and columns instead of giant plasma screens. Basically, the forum was the center of life in Rome, and although it seemed small to Molly and me, it was a far-cry from the mud-with-thatched-roof huts the rest of the world was living in at the time. We saw the arch of Titus (erected to honor Titus' defeat of the Jews around the time of the macabees), the oldest bronze door still swinging on its ancient hinges, the spot where they burned Julius Caesar's body (et tu brute?) and the home of the Vestal Virgins (the ancient nuns who kept Rome's eternal flame going...and were chaste or else). Finally, we made our way to the Colloseum where the magic really happened long ago. On the way there, we had our first taste of Roman gelato (Ben=chocolate and coffee, Molly=banana and chocolate) it was great...but not compared to what came later. At the colloseum, we were happy to find out that we could get in very quickly--since we'd already bought a ticket--and that they no longer killed christians there. We toured the place, saw the cages where they kept the lions tigers and bears, saw the cages where they kept the martyrs, saw the booths where important people sat, and finally, saw the cages where they kept the gladiators before they fought. Some pretty cool statues depicted the different kinds of gladiators, and the place was just tough in every way. Soon we headed back to happy days and stopped at a grocery store for some foodstuffs. After we'd loaded up on pasta and nutella (this godly spread that europe loves), we came back and made dinner. after dinner, we went and found an even better gelato stand right on the wall of the vatican (i think the cream has holy water in it) and enjoyed every bite. We've just come back to the hostel...where one of the workers (a peruvian in a cowboy hat name julio caesar..no joke) just handed everyone in the room a heavenly mixture he's calling sangria and some bruscetta or something...i'm not so sure, but when in Rome as they say. Cheers.
ciaou bellas.
ben&molly
ps...pray for me, julio has already hit on molly more than once...i may have to pull a brutus later.
quote for the day
if you are at Rome, live in the Roman style. if you are elsewhere, live as they live elsewhere. --st. ambrose
