Rome for Lunch

Sandro had gone and cashed Traveler's Checks for us while we took the Vatican tour. He picked us up and we continued the tour.

Parthenon

Narrow street from the car

passing taxi

Roman square from the limo

Trevi Fountain from where he parked

He took us to the Trevi fountain where we both threw coins in.

souvenir stand

Trevi Fountain

Grandson at Trevi Fountain

Since we had no breakfast, I was feeling a little empty so we had an early lunch at a place called Ciampini which had a little pool with turtles in the middle.

menu graphic

Bar area

Eating outside on the terrace

Turtle pool

St Peters from the restaurant

Victor Emanual monument from restaurant

My grandson the picky eater (like his mom) would have ordered pizza if it had been available, ordered a cheeseburger, and fries, and it came with BBQ sauce.

hamburger and fries 18€

I asked for catsup for him, and when he switched the little pot of BBQ sauce off his plate, it slopped all over the tablecloth.

My chicken salad - 8.5€

I had a chicken salad which was good. There was a 2 € charge for the bread, which my grandson mostly ate. . After we ate, I had a cup of coconut gelato.

Gelato

It would have been 6€ if I had it at the table, but if I took it out it was only 2€. I think Sandro was wary of my eating in the car, but he let me get in while I was still eating, and I put the cup in my bag so it wouldn't make the car messy

I went to the bathroom which had a foot treadle for the water in the sink, and it took me awhile to figure it out.

Toilet in the ladies room

Vittoriano Monument Rome

Victor Emanuel Monument Vittoriale

Victor Emanuel Monument

After that Sandro let us off at the coliseum (one of the things I wanted to see), and we walked all around the upper deck and then around the lower deck to the entrance. We didn't get a guide - we just looked.

Horse drawn carriages near the Coliseum

Roman columns looking towards the capitol (on right) near Julius Caesar statue

Fence

Map of the Med showing Roman empire on wall

Roman empire map

going to the Colosseum

Walking up to the coliseum

Fees

Coliseum

Coliseum

Street and park from Coliseum

Coliseum

Coliseum

Looking down from the coliseum

Arch of Constantine from Colosseum

Piazza del Colosseo

Looking down From the Coliseum

Looking down into the Coliseum

From the Coliseum

Carriages from the Coliseum

looking west

Victor Emmanuel just visible over top

Columns

elevator

Pictured prohibitions

Coliseum

Coliseum

Colosseum

Near Coliseum

Constantine arch

Monks

Then we went by several other sites including the Circus Maximus,

Circus Maximus behind the fence

After we visited the Colosseum, Sandro drove us past this site and pointed it out to us. It used to be a the chariot racetrack of Rome. The name is Latin for greatest circus, in Italian Circo Massimo. It is now a runner’s track, sports park, and green space. Julius Caesar expanded the Circus in 50 B.C. so that the track measured approximately 2,037 ft long and 387 ft wide. It could hold 12 chariots. Chariot racing was very dangerous and there were spectacular crashes which could result in the death of the participants.

The excavation was done in the late 19th century. There is no entrance fee, but it lies behind the fenced off Palatine hill, with a view of the ancient imperial palace.

Imperial palace on the Palatine

We didn't stay here long, but the internet site on parks says

All hippodromes (horserace parks) in ancient times were built with banked sides as bleacher seats for spectators, either landscaping the earth or as built structures. Circus Maximus was the largest of its kind, able to hold 250,000 spectators. The chariot races held at the park were popular sports attractions with Romans. They often bet on the charioteers, who were the sports celebrities of their time....

Public domain recreation of site

The south embankment sits higher than the north. Near its center is a wide platform with a dozen benches facing the track. This is where the emperor and his entourage would have sat during the races. Today it’s a good spot to survey the Palatine (one of the seven Roman hills) and its excavated architecture. For a closer look at an excavation-in- progress, the east end of the “Massimo” holds ancient structures that historians believe where the horse stables and dress areas of the chariot riders.

A softball diamond is roughly outlined at each of the corners on the track. Teens gather here after school and on weekends for pickup games. You’ll find morning and evening joggers working their way around the track...

Spanish Steps,

Spanish Steps

the Knights of Malta keyhole,

Gate

Knights of Malta square

through the keyhole

the city gate with the pyramid, and

The Pyramid of Cestius

Pyramid

Porta San Paolo

Aurelian Walls

the Basilica of St. Paul Fuori le Mura.

mural

covered with scaffolding when we were there

Basilica of St. Paul Fuori le Mura

My grandson sitting in front of the mural

Basilica of St. Paul Fuori le Mura