EuroX Trip: Day 22 and 23

Still in Rome, where it is nice and temperate. I heard that there was a HUUGE heatwave in Australia, with temperatures up in the mid 40 celsius, and minimums in the 30s. Now that is HOT. I am very glad that I am here in temperate Rome, as opposed to being back there in Australia. The pools and beaches must have been veery busy. It would have been hard getting to the gym during those days.

In any case ... Rome has been rather interesting in some cases.

Day 22
After waking up at a more normal time (8:45), and having breakfast, we went to see some of the ancient Roman stuff. Arriving at the Colosseum, we found that surprisingly, there weren't that many tourists around.
There was a very good reason.
The Colosseum was closed for some sort of 'work assembly' and would reopen at '12am' so the notice claimed. I think they meant 12pm, as it would be rather hard to police people about on the Colosseum at midnight. In any case, almost all of the ancient monuments were closed for this 'work assembly.' Henry and I instead chose to wander off and check out Circus Maximus, which was a bit of a crapshoot.
It should really be renamed Circus Minimus. There are hardly any old buildings and stuff, it looks more like a drag-racing strip that nature had reclaimed. There was grass growing all over, only a few sets of steps remained, and there were cigarette butts littered everywhere. Of ancient Roman origin, I'm sure.

Returning to the Colosseum at near 12pm, we both found that there was a HUGE line of tourists lined up to go in - it must have stretched for at least 500m from the entrance where they have metal detectors and things. Getting in was fairly easy - pick a thin part of the line and jump in. Sure, it isn't totally legit to just push in, but all's fair in sightseeing and touring. Particularly the big tourist traps like the Colosseum. We went on a guided tour which was informative, but short. One interesting fact I will impart to you all - the Colosseum is actually not named for its massive size, but instead for the Colossus of Nero that once used to sit near the Colosseum after it was moved from elsewhere. Before, it was known as the Flavian Arena.
After the Colosseum, we went to the Palatine, and spent a good hour or two wandering through the ruins of the Roman Emperor's palace. There was even fruit growing from the orange trees in the gardens, so we stole fruit from the Emperor's Garden and ate of it. Henry remarked ot me that the orange he ate was rather sour.
After that was a stroll up the rode from the Palatine and the Colosseum, and we visited the ancient Roman Forum. A whole lot of ruins and archeological digs, which surprised me. I didn't expect to see an archeological dig in Rome, the capital of Italy. Goes to show you can find things almost anywhere.

Gelati and groceries followed, as well as a hamfisted attempt to cook spaghetti using mince, what we think was pasta sauce, capsicum and tomato. It was a rather interesting experience, going shopping and trying to go by what picture is on the label, and ignoring all the impenetrable Italian surrounding it. It makes cooking a lot more fun, admittedly - you have NO idea what you are putting in if it is canned, and only hoping like hell it has the stuff on the cover.
The spaghetti didn't turn out too badly, although it was rather bland. It needed something more ... like red wine, or MSG.

Day 23
Today was a nice, lazy day.
We got up, and took a bus to see the Pantheon, which to my surprise was actually a Christian temple. I always associated it with the classical Greco-Roman gods, but in this case, it is actually a Christian temple after it was donated to the Pope by the Byzantine emperor Phocas, and redecorated.
Lunch at Mcdonalds followed, as well as a visit to the Piazza Navone, which was a really nice place, with nice atmosphere. There were buskers playing Italian music, lots of artists displaying their wares, as well as sketchers and caricaturists who will draw your mug for a fee. As well as that, there were also a lot of sneaky and crooked Nigerians around, hawking all manner of wares. Bubble-guns which make toy laser gun noises, balls that buzz when you throw them into the air, fake Luis Vutton handbags, cheapo sunglasses, all manner of things.
There were a few fountains there too, it is a really pretty place and definitely a nice place to go with a lover.
If you are into that sort of thing.

Henry wanted to go to a 'famous market' which I objected to, on the basis that it was a market, like other markets all around the world. There was one near our hotel in Paris one day, and it was mostly food, fruit and dodgy goods. The stall owners there were a LOT more aggressive. One guy, when I walked near his stall, shoved a ladle filled with some sort of seed or nut mixture into my face! It was all I could do to raise a hand and gesture 'No, I am not interested in your strange mix of nuts or testing it.' Henry, however, was on a quest to find some fragola, which is some sort of Venetian strawberry liqueur. Instead, we came to a stand where a man of dubious Middle Eastern origin was trying to sell us on various flavoured liequeurs.

There were free samples, and I will hardly say no to free booze.

After some time 'testing' the drinks, I came to the conclusion that I liked the pistacchio liqueur the best. It tasted like pistacchio flavoured gelati, only in alcoholic form. It will go nicely with ice-cream. Henry bought some cream of lemon liqueur because it was on special.

We ended up back at the Vatican, where Henry was asked by a friend to get a poster of some sort for said friend.
It seems it won't fit in his bag.

Soon it will be dinner time, and tonight's menu ... frozen pizzas bought from the supermarket!