Italia 2017-Day 6-Roma

When we were planning our itinerary, our only full day in Rome fell on a Sunday. We were kind of bummed and tried to rearrange our plans to see if we could have a travel day fall on a Sunday but we couldn't make it work so we moved forward not sure how we were going to do anything and keep the sabbath day holy. We couldn't go to church since it was conference so our plans were to go see the city without spending money on the sabbath and that was going to be hard because everything there is to do in Rome costs money. After researching Rome since we'd never been, I read that the first Sunday of the month all the national museums/monuments in Rome are free. Admission is waived only that first Sunday, the Sunday we would be in Rome. I don't think it was coincidence of all the travel dates we looked at that we would settle on one that had the first Sunday. In fact, we tried and tried to not do conference weekend because we wanted to have the kids experience church but we couldn't make those dates work for Andy to get vacation. It was definitely part of a bigger plan. Heavenly Father was orchestrating a beautiful miracle. A miracle I thought was us being able to enjoy Rome while observing the sabbath the best we could. But it was even bigger than I could've ever imagined. Powerful and life changing. But I'm getting ahead of the events of the day.

First up. The colosseum. You know how I said no one drives in Rome? On a Sunday morning when parking is free, admission is free, we parked our big van 4 cars away from the colosseum and drove on empty streets to get there. I thought since the roads were empty maybe that meant no one was there? We walked down the stairs and saw a line a mile long. There were so many people we had to wait in line for almost 2 hours. I can only imagine how busy public transportation is to bring that many people there because they didn't come by car. It was crazy! My only regret was not going to the Roman Forum first because there was hardly any line and the ticket you get there is also valid at the colosseum so you just skip the line with your ticket. if we had known we could've saved ourselves a lot of time. We still had plenty of time to do everything we wanted, it just was a long morning for the kids.

Once we got through the ticketing we walked up a few flights of stairs and walked inside the stadium platform and had a panoramic view of the massive structure. I'm so amazed that so long ago they built structures so huge and intricate. The process is incomprehensible to me with today's technology I can't even begin to understand how they built what they built. It was interesting to read the history of the colosseum  It's the largest amphitheater ever built and they built in in 7-8 years. Most of the cathedrals took 100 years or more to build so to read how quickly it was built it was even more incredible to put that in perspective.  When it was no longer used they striped the inside stone to be used elsewhere. I guess mankind have been the same from the beginning-disposable. Isn't it interesting how we get so acclimated to such amazing things in our everyday lives that we become desensitized to them? This magnificent structure for today's standards, let alone for 70 AD when it was built, was somehow viewed as disposable, recyclable, useless? Crazy.

We walked down to the bottom level and really got a sense of the space. Lily pointed up to a top deck level that we hadn't been to. We later found out on the news when we got home that they restored and are opening up that top deck the beginning of November. That will be a spectacular view. After we were done we walked across the street to the Roman Forum.

We were able to walk right in with our tickets and skip the line. We went the wrong direction so we took the more scenic route through Palatine Hill to get to the ruins. It worked out though because we got to go to a overlook of the city and the Roman Forum that was pretty fantastic. Unfortunately, the kids were tired by the time we got to the ruins and they had seen plenty ruins on route to the Forum that I guess it was underwhelming for them? It was getting hot with the sun directly on us so I'm sure that played a part in it as well. It was neat to walk along the paths of the ruins and imagine what this once city center of Rome was like all those years ago. It was incredible.

Looking up from the Forum this big white building caught my eye. I had read about it in a book and didn't realize how close it was so we decided to take a detour and go check out Altare della Patria-aka the National Monument for the first King of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele II. This monument stands out not only because it is probably the biggest structure I've ever seen in my entire life but because it is so white (all marble) amongst beige as far as the eye can see. We thought the tomb was the king's but later saw that he buried in the Pantheon. I later learned the tomb held the Tomb of the Unknown Solider with an eternal flame, wreaths, and 2 guards. We walked up the grand staircase and enjoyed the view of the city and kept commenting that the King must have been something to have a monument like that built. It was impressive.

We left the monument and made our way to the Pantheon. It's located in Piazza della Rotonda and had a fountain in the center. The Pantheon is a former Roman temple but is now just a church. The columns out front and portico is probably what sets it apart from other churches. It was beautiful inside and out and was surprising bright on the interior. I remember last time we went to Italy how you got to a point in the trip where the cathedrals, churches, basilicas, etc are just another building. They lose their wow factor after seeing so many. I think we were at that point with the Pantheon. It's beautiful and definitely noteworthy to see, I think with us just seeing St. Peter's Basilica the night before it just didn't have that wow factor. It was the last church of our trip as the rest of our trip was heading to the coast. I think we planned it well.

We headed to our last stop in the city, Trevi Fountain. I was anxious to see this because I've seen it in movies and I was worried it wouldn't be as great as it looked in the movies. When we rounded the corner and it came into view I was quite surprised. It was even bigger and better than I had imagined. It's captivating to watch and even though it was super crowded it had a tranquil feel to it. Lily said it was her favorite thing we saw in Rome, which for everything we saw to have a fountain be your favorite? It was so unique and beautiful.

We had a full, fantastic day in Rome. I think we walked over 12 miles. On our way back to the car we saw street artists with canvases, stencils, and spray paint. They were making canvas paintings of the colosseum and it reminded me of Heidi Swapp's sidewalk chalk. I snapped a picture and texted it to her. It was a fun day and we still had one last stop which might be the highlight of the trip...The Rome Temple.