First Impressions of Rome

We woke up today and started our journey to our final holiday destination - Rome! A 2.5hr train trip with a change of trains in Naples. Once at Rome Termini, we made our way to the metro line B heading to Laurentina. We'd chatted to the girls about safety and being aware of who is around you in relation to pickpockets without trying to freak them out too much.

After standing in a line for over 30mins, we finally purchased our metro tickets only to emerge from the office to a woman screaming and several guys running towards the commotion taking place. We looked up in the direction but couldn't actually see anything and the yelling had ceased. Initially we had thought that someone was being assaulted but then realised that lady had had her bag stolen. If the girls weren't scared before they were now. Not the best of introductions to Rome, hopefully it would get better.

Exiting the metro at Colosseo, we skirted around the majestic Colosseum while being bombarded by guys trying to sell us selfie sticks, tours, bottles of water and trinkets. Our host let us into the apartment even though it was still being cleaned which was nice. We recovered from our morning's journey and had lunch before heading out to explore.

Wandering down via dei Fori Imperiali with roman ruins everywhere was amazing but also fun especially seeing the many buskers - the man without a head, the floating genie, various musicians, the spray paint artists and the girls favourite the bubble man!

At Piazza Venezia, we admired an imposing beautiful white building which we later discover was a monument built in honour of Victor Emmanuel, the first king of a unified Italy. Every street corner of Rome is filled with history. Across the road from the Victor Emmanuel II Monument is Trajen's Column, a free standing column famous for its spiral bas relief depicting the wars between the Romans and Dacians.

  

We were actually looking for the Time Elevator, a 3D movie about Rome. According to it's website - 

Anyone who enters into Time Elevator enters into the history of Rome, flies back in time to the legend of Romulus and Remus and the founding of the city, seeing victories and defeats, development and decline of the Roman Empire. And then later in the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance with the events of the Popes until the Fascist period and the present day..

With memories of our fantastic experience at Edinburgh's Our Dynamic Earth, an interactive adventure of our earth, I was keen to give the Time Elevator a go. We booked into the next available session, giving us 30 mins to explore.

 Off we went again and just around the corner we bumped into the Trevi Foundation and lots of tourists! Man I was glad to be here in the low season. Couldn't imagine what this area is like in the middle of summer! The whistle police were on high alert, blowing their whistles loudly when a tourist stepped out of line. Amazing to think that this fountain depicting Neptune the god of the sea was completed in 1762. It's location marks the terminus fo the ancient Aqua Virgo aqueduct and is named on its position - at the junction of three roads (tre vie). We jostled amongst the other tourists and took a few snaps before retreating into a nearby gelato store.

Back to the Time Elevator, we were ushered into a small section of chairs, placed our headphones on and the lap bar lowered. The lights dimmed and we were off on our journey. As a movie played on the large three section screen, our chairs moved and occasional burst of air were felt to help create the allusion of flying. The girls enjoyed the movie and overall experience. Andy and I had higher expectations, so were a bit disappointed.

Leaving the Time Elevator, Andy took us on the higher road back to the apartment. As the sunset was setting, the light on and around the Colosseum was magical. Just a pity about the number of young African guys wanting to make friends in order to sell you something.