The History Lesson

As Westerners, we derive much of our history and culture from the Romans and Greeks. Certainly as Americans, we learn very little about European history, but we do tend to learn about the Roman Empire. Indeed, many of the world's languages are related to Latin, and our legal and political systems still follow some of the precepts set forth by the Romans. Additionally, we still use architectural approaches that were perfected by the Romans. Rome, according to legend, was founded by Romulus (thus the name) in 753 BC. Archaeologists agree that Rome was founded probably somewhere in the middle of the 8th century BC. The city is definitely one of the oldest in the world, and it is hard to state how it feels to stand and see some of the ancient ruins that still somewhat stand upon the Roman Forum. End of the history lesson.

Our apartment was on the Via dei Coronari, which is known for its antiques, and the apartment was about a three minute walk from Piazza Navona, which has a couple of fountains, although one was out of commission while we were there. After a late night, we got off to a late start the following morning. We headed to a small place just north of the Piazza Navona where we got some croissants for the kids and I had a cappuccino. Michelle wanted a caffe latte, and I mistakenly ordered simply a "latte". They asked if I wanted it hot (caldo), to which I replied, somewhat confused, that yes, I wanted it hot. They then asked if I wanted chocolate on top, so I got that as well. It wasn't until we got it that I figured it out - I had ordered simply a milk - not a "caffe latte", so Michelle ended up with basically an Italian hot chocolate.

After that, we tried to figure out the bus routes, and made our way to the Roman Forum, stopping at a small cart for our lunch. Before entering the Forum, we went to the Mamertine prison, which, according to legend, once imprisoned the Apostle Peter. The Roman Forum is a patchwork of old buildings, consisting of temples, arches built by various emperors to celebrate themselves, and old meeting halls. Even the kids, who had no sense of the history of the place enjoyed running about in the "remainings", as they called it. A good number of the pictures below show various buildings and views of the Roman Forum, some looking up towards the Palatine Hill where the emperors kept their residences.

Due to our late arrival, and the fact that our camera battery was already beginning to run low, we headed back to the apartment for a quick rest and to recharge the batteries on the camera. I also made a quick run to the local grocery store for some breakfast food. After our brief respite, we went back to the Forum area for a visit to the Colosseum. It's hard to explain what it's like to see these things. Pictures may be worth a thousand words, but they still fail to capture everything that is felt when you actually see them. We spent an hour or two inside, and told the kids about the gladiator fights and other things that used to take place there.

Coming out, it was getting late, so we headed back to our apartment once again, and then out for dinner in a little place on the back streets behind the Via dei Coronari. All along the way, we kept seeing buildings and churches which just seemed so ancient, part of an ancient city. And so ended our first full day in Rome.

Next: All around the town