Russell Crowe & Audrey Hepburn
Trip Start
Aug 04, 2008
1
6
Trip End
Aug 19, 2008
Rome,
Italy
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
first stop of the day: THE COLOSSEUM! i was way excited, mostly because this is one of the major landmarks people know of when they think of italy/rome...joe and i decided to skip the long-ass line and join a tourguide to go through the colosseum and since i can't really remember that much of what the guy said here's what wikipedia says...
"The Colosseum or Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre, is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. It is one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and Roman engineering.
The Colosseum
The Colosseum was used to host gladiatorial shows as well as a variety of other events. The shows, called munera, were always given by individuals rather than the state. They had a strong religious element but were also demonstration of power and family prestige, and were immensely popular with the population. Another popular type of show was the animal hunt, or venatio. This utilised a great variety of wild beasts, mainly imported from Africa, and included creatures such as rhinoceros, hippopotamuses, elephants, giraffes, lions, panthers, leopards, tigers, alligators, crocodiles and ostriches.
3-The Colosseum
Battles and hunts were often staged amid elaborate sets with movable trees and buildings. Such events were occasionally on a huge scale; Trajan is said to have celebrated his victories in Dacia in 107 with contests involving 11,000 animals and 10,000 gladiators over the course of 123 days."
actually, come to think of it, here's what i can remember the tour guide telling us:
1. when the colosseum was built, entrance to see the gladiator shows (like in the movie gladiator!) was free! however, people were supposed to sit according to their class with the higher class on the lower levels and women from the lowest class on the top.
2. prisoners never fought each other in the colosseum; only gladiators did it (which apparently was wrongly dipicted in some of the older movies)
3. the basement has two levels, with an elevator-type contraption to bring up scenery or wild animals into the center of the colosseum
4. holes in the colosseum were made when people in roman times tried to steal...lead (i think?)...
5. an earthquake caused a huge chunk of the colosseum to fall and that's what the colosseum looks the way it does today!
anyway, after we wandered around the colosseum, taking pictures and such, we headed over to see some of the roman ruins on the opposite side and then before heading to our last stop of the day stopped at this little pizza place and had some AWESOME pizza!
last stop of the day: BOCCA DELLA VERITA! (the mouth of truth)...once again, according to wikipedia:
"La Bocca della Verità ("the Mouth of Truth") is a renowned image, carved from Pavonazzetto marble, of a man-like face; it is located in the portico of the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome, Italy.
9-The Colosseum
The sculpture is thought to be part of an ancient Roman fountain, or perhaps a manhole cover, portraying one of several possible pagan gods. The most famous characteristic of the Mouth, however, is its role as a lie detector. Starting from the Middle Ages, it was believed that if one told a lie with one's hand in the mouth of the sculpture, it would be bitten off. The piece was placed in the portico of the Santa Maria in Cosmedin in the 17th century.
The Mouth of Truth is most well known from its appearance in the 1953 film Roman Holiday. The film uses the Mouth of Truth as a storytelling device since both Hepburn's and Peck's characters are not initially truthful with each other."
we got there late in the day, it was hot, crowds of tourists...but we got our picture! (and luckily kept our hands!)...it was kind of anti-climatic, but still, we got to do it! woohoo! (and thankfully got a cute picture...apparently, there is one line, and basically in order to get your picture you have to pass your camera to the people who happen to be standing behind you and ask them to take your picture and then you have to move on...if you hate your picture, i guess you just get back in line and try again!)
dinner at this wine & grill place with super yummy food & amazing tiramisu...and then a somewhat sleepless night due to knocking, a towel, and someone who hears NOTHING when he's sleeping...(ASAT#5)...all in all, another awesome day in rome...and how fun to see the actual places of things seen in movies!...
too bad we had to leave rome...although next stop: naples and then onto ischia!
