Don’t make our mistake. Do not go to Rome and get an American breakfast. You will be disappointed. For one thing, we showed up too early at 8:30 for breakfast, the cook doesn’t arrive until 9. They really don’t have bacon, pancetta just isn’t the same. And it was the first time I had been served a salad for breakfast without ordering enchiladas. You have been warned.
Anyway, on to our day, this day was a day of ruins. We started by touring the Domus Aurea (Golden House). This had been a project by Nero, however, since he was a very unpopular ruler every trace of his building projects were usually buried. The Domus Aurea faired a little better in that the Baths of Tyerian used the walls of the Domus Aurea as a foundation. In the 1700’s, artists found caves with beautiful frescos on the walls. When archeologists realized what this place was they set about preserving it. Currently, this site is an active archeological site, but they do tours on the weekends.
As well as leading you through and explaining the current project they have a room where they’ve recreated what the house would have looked like back in Nero’s time with the help of virtual reality. The virtual reality portion was incredible as you felt like you were really there in that time period walking through the house.
Finally, we made it to our tour of the Colosseum. I have booked the underground tour package including a tour of the third ring. Well, a special surprise for us, the Colosseum opened up the 4th and 5th levels of the Colosseum for the first time in 40 years. We got to go up to the top! Will, however, was not excited and loved the underground portion and learning about how the animals just popped up on the arena floor and that naval battles that were held there. But me, up to the top, I went. Breathtaking!
Then it was on to Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. Much of the set-up of American government and law was taken from the Romans. The Roman Forum is where law was practiced. Clients were able to meet their lawyers there and then get sentenced by judges.