Saturday 15th June  -  Rome
Today was the walking tour of the Colosseum which was another of the 3 I booked weeks ago. After our experience of St Peter's Basilica yesterday, we were a tad apprehensive, but we turned up at the required 8.30 (the bus driver actually turned up at 7.30 to find he had muddled the tours) and off we zoomed through slightly less traffic way across town and spilled us out to join hundreds of others in clusters and the long queue. This was another"must book ahead" case. We were put into a group of 12 English speaking people and off we waddled following our flag-bearing guide walking right past the long queues and through a separate entrance for organized people.  It's all so Mother Duck and her ducklings. We're all plugged into our headsets (whispers) and cling to Mother Duck for sheer survival. This guide spoke better English at a slower rate so I was able to make some notes as we went.

The Colosseum was an amphitheatre ordered by the first Roman Emperorer Augustus in 76 AD and opened for free entertainment plus bread to all people of Rome. The political grandstanding was held 2 days a week for 5 centuries during which time millions of humans and animals were slaughtered for fun. The arena held 60,000 people and was acoustically perfect. The stage area was built if wood and covered in sand to soak up the blood. Elevators were invented to lift the participants up to stage level from the vast tunnels and holding pens underneath. The spectacle started at 8.30 with gladiators against beasts; at 12.00 the criminals contest the beasts and at 4.00 gladiators pitched against each other. The crowd decided who won and should be freed. The other was killed.  There is a large cross erected just as a Christian presence. You'll remember the story of Androcles and the lion, I'm sure and this was the setting.
The Colosseum was covered in marble over the stone work. That marble was all stolen centuries later in order to build the 500 churches in Rome today. Recycling they called it.

Rome was born in 8 BC on the Pallentine Hill overlooking the Tiber River which we climbed up after the tour of the Colosseum. The Temple of the Eternal City was built by the first emperor, Hadrian, in 2 AD. There were 11 aquaducts built .
We saw through the private hippodrome built in 1 AD. So much of this colossal domain remains because it was not bombed at all during the wars. We could see the teams of restoration builders working on various sites. The Palace was covered in marble brought over from Egypt and some of it remains to be seen today. When Nero came in to rule his palace was coated in gold just to outdo the Egyptian marble used by his predecessor. However, Nero was such a wicked ruler, with his cruelty  and sadism going as far as his murder of both his mother and wife, and the crucifixion of St Peter upside down,  that when he died, the public buried his palace where it remains today.

It was fascinating to see the remains of the Vesta temple which marked the centre of this eternal city now in ruins. The Vestal Virgins were (I think 12) female children chosen from wealthy families to keep the flame burning in the Vesta. They were held captive for this task for their lifetime  - and there it still stands today.

I found all this so enthralling. I took Latin for 3 years at high school, but it was only today that all that boring history became a reality.

We were certainly in better shape when a taxi returned us to our hotel today, even though we had walked 15,000 steps ,  but really there's nothing to beat a siesta. That restored us sufficiently to continue our pina colada research in the early evening, happen upon the beautiful Basilica of St Mary Major standing alone with no pesky selfie seekers, and make a decision over the ristorante for our risotto and prosecco.

A really absorbingly interesting day. Much to my astonishment, Peter has chosen a shopping tour for tomorrow's activity. We're to be collected by coach at 11.00am and whisked off to a vast outlet shopping centre for four hours. I suspect the attraction is air conditioning,  seats, coffee, loos and an absence of selfie narcissists. Other visitors prefer the Pantheon but we may have had our fill of history.