The Rome adventure continues

Ancient Rome

In the afternoon following our Gladiator School we all took the Colosseum and combat Forum tour. This was a walking tour under the direction of a guide. The Colosseum is enormous with its dimensions similar to the playing surface of the MCG. As you walk around the outside it has the same aura and you can imagine the noise from the 60 000 spectators rising as a kill is made. Under the surface of the arena their is a labyrinth of corridors for the combatants and animals to use. A couple of times while the guide was providing information about the gladiators Jared and I would look at each other and shake our heads as we knew he was telling it wrong. Emily was asleep for much of this which meant that Jared and I were carrying her and the pram up and down the many stairs in chariot style that was suited to the venue we were in.

We then moved across the road and entered the Roman Forum that contains many of the structural remains of many of the central buildings of Caesar's Rome. These included many of the older temples and political buildings that would have been described In any novels or history books from this time. The tour still follows many of the original stone roadways so pushing Emily's pram was not very practical so once again she received the ancient Roman sedan chair ride. The tour finished with us ending up at the

We all ate at a nice little restaurant just up the road from the hotel. We thought the waiter was being very attentive to our need by supplying us with plenty of bread and pieces of fruit for Emily however when received the bill we realised his efforts were not that generous!! After dinner we all went down to the Trevi fountain and took some nice pictures. Upon returning to the hotel we said our goodbyes as Sarah and Jared were flying home and we had an early tour the next morning.


Pompeii

This morning we were picked up from our hotel at 7am for our bus trip to Naples and Pompeii. The guide, Ciara, was fluent in Italian, Spanish, German and English and had to repeat each description in the three foreign languages. Our journey out of Rome came to a temporary halt on the motorway as a large tanker had overturned and blocked lanes on both side of the highway. This took about 1/2 hour to clear. During this time we introduced ourselves to about 10 other older Aussies traveling on the bus, one of which was a Pies fan but I didn't hold that against her.

We followed the southern motorway which took us along the Apennines and a wide range of rural areas. In the distance to the left we could see mountains with snow on top. Ciara said that it was very unusual to still have snow in this area for this time of year. We stopped for morning tea and then continued on our way. A little further along we passed over the original Appian Way which was the original road from Rome. It is set on a built up embankment and no bigger than a narrow street with trees running along both sides.

Naples is a port city with a lot of history. We were taken on a guided walk that was a bit rushed due to our previous delay. The highlights were a large fort built from the Lava rock from Vesuvius and a ginormous glass domed plaza constructed 300 years ago. From here we drove to the other side of Vesuvius until we reached Pomeii were we had lunch which consisted of three courses, soup or lasagna, roast beef and ice cream. We sat with a family of two women our age from Argentina traveling with their parents. While there was a language barrier we managed to enjoy our time together.

The guided tour of Pompeii took about two hours and I was surprised how big the site was. It is only 8 kilometres from the crater of Mount Vesuvius which explains why so many were killed in the explosion and three days of eruption in 79AD. It was a very interesting experience and I was excited to see the mural portraying Alexander the Great pursuing King Darius at the Battle of Issus. The pictures provide a better explanation than I can.

Many on the tour were proceeding onto a further tour of Sorrento, the Isle of Capri which we will have to do next time we are over here. The trip home provided time for sleep and we returned to our hotel about 9.30pm.

Italy - not a good place to be if you don't eat cheese or drink wine!! (written by Jene)

Our last day in Rome and we decided to do what everyone should - cooking lessons with a chef. We met up with the rest of the group after a brisk walk through the streets of Rome trying to find the designated meeting place. There were 4 others including a young couple from Perth honeymooning around Europe (Scott and I went to Queensland!). Our chef Fabio and his assistant Monica took us through some of the streets on a short tour explaining the types of meat, bread and vegetables that are used frequently in his cooking. When he found out that I couldn't have cheese he explained we were in the wrong city! He then had to change his menu ideas to fit in at least some food that I would be able to eat. I also kept seeing shops on the walk that I wanted to return to have a better look (we did do this but Scott with his navigational skills made this into another opportunity to get me walking!!)

We worked our way to Fabio's cooking school, which happened to also be his home. Up on the shelf in the kitchen were so many bottles of olive oil that is only second to a supermarket shelf. Fabio went through the basics of cooking and the general ingredients, which of course included tomatoes, oil, garlic (but not as much as you may think), flour and eggs.

We first made bruschetta with fresh fresh tomatoes that were so sweet and yummy that I told Scott he had to get back to planting tomatoes for us. All that was in it - no its a secret recipe!! But it was delicious. We then made 2 types of pasta one made with semolina and
egg and the other with double flour and water. The pasta made with double flour we made like large shells and the other we made ravioli filled with a artichoke mix. Then we made gnocchi with a tomato sauce and crochets. I was able to have most of the dishes as mine was dished out first. All was delicious and tasted better as we had made it. Will have to see if we would do it at home though, all that was there had a blast. we rolled out of the school and went back to our hotel room the long way! After a quick rest we headed back out to hit the shops for some last minute shopping, pack the bags and bed before our 6.30 pickup for the airport, next stop Paris.