COLLOSEUMS and ITALIAN PASSION!

Rome, Italy

Day 73 - 74

Buongiorno!!

First thing....how cool is it that the DOCKERS BEAT THE HAWKS!! :-) Thanks mum, for the news!!! (and no, we don't hear much about the footy..unless someone tell us..and so far Andy told us the first win, Elise the second and you the third..so we do find out somehow!)

Trying to get internet sites when it's all written in other languages can be a challenge. Even this blog. All the language and instructions is in the country we're in..so trying to work out spanish, french and italian directions has been...yes, a challenge. Sometimes, instead of publishing..i'm sure i've deleted..until i see it up there published. That's why there are no more photos up..because trying to read the directions to do it..is just TOO hard!

Enuff dribbling.

Well here we are..our last day in Rome! I'm blogging, Greg's plotting! This is our life now!!! (How will we settle down when we have to go home?)

Tomorrow we're in Sicilly! The home of my children's ancestors!

One thing about the Italians is they can build.....

The colloseums here in Italy are amazing! And the french one in Nimes, based on the Italian amphithetre is amazing too. So big! The colloseum in Rome, originally called the Flavia and now the colloseum, has been called an amphitheatre and an arena but from what we've seen they should be called arenas as being an amphitheatre is a bit of a misnomer..from what we believe, an amphitheatre is specially shaped to amphlify the sound from one point where the speaker should stand so that everyone can hear...

But an arena is basically two amphitheatres joined together to form a big oval shape..where there is sand (to absorb the blood and guts from the bulls! Just to be honest) and it doesn't amphify!

And that's what these are..arena's..to us anyway!

The arena in Nimes, in France, that was built in 100 AD is definately the most preserved as you can see the whole arena...that is the place where we saw the 3D movie all about gladiators...and where we learned a lot of history about arenas. Apparently they used to use (the rulers set them up) these arenas to entertain the people at the time! (Remember Kirk Douglas in Spartaca..and Russell Crowe in Gladiator??!)

The arena in Pompei is definately the oldest and perhaps the first one ever built..and because it was covered in lava and ash it was pretty well preserved. Smaller than the one in Nimes which held 24,000 people and the one in Rome which held 50 70,000 spectators..but extraordinary, nevertheless.

Can't wait to learn more about these wonderful structures actually. I'm really missing having ready access to internet to research all things i want to learn about, that's for sure!

We do know... the way they entertained the people was to have slaves and criminals fed to lions and ravaged...and especially at lunch hour (where Nero was always seen to be enjoying the entertainment) as well afterwards,they'd have gladiators to fight...and then later Christians were fed to the wild beasts as entertainment as well, until Constantine became a Christian himself and stamped that out.

Later volunteers became gladiators to get wealthy and acclaim...and were admired by the ladies! It became their career!

I'm sure gladiators found it hard to get life insurance!

The arenas then became bull rings. And the matadors killed bulls for entertainent...

What a gruesome history these majestic buildings had....brutal killings for entertainment....worse than boing for sure! But not that much different?

Apart from the colloseums....the italians sure have passion!

Passion on the roads.....beeping, parking, driving all evoke a wild passion!

Passion for food....have some more they say..more vino...more dessert...more of everything! No wonder we're splitting out of our clothes!

And are friendly...so, so friendly. If they like you (and they have taken shines to us..unlike some of the places we've been!) they treat you like royalty..

From the friendly old guy here manning the reception (who always gave me free internet use!) to the owner of the gorgeous little ristaurante we've been going to -Trattoria E Pizza La Reatina..who gave us the same table each night, and sweet sherry after the meal with a HUGE smile that seemed to say more than he was letting on.

They are also passionate about confusing us all..from the postal system where i tried to post a parcel....go to platform 24 he said....and when we got there all we found is a phone! Go upstairs to the gate 24! SO we go there...line up for half an hour..to find there is NO postal bo at the postal office! (sorry, the letter after w and before y doesnt work on this computer!)

So....they tell us to go to platform 1...and we can't find it...so nothing gets posted! Arrgh..to us it's frustrating..to them it's normal to have chaos and nothing with a completely logical order. Gotta love that about Italy!!! No problemo...we fix ita! The italians are so HAPPY!

Okies....we've seen A LOT of Rome in our short time...Victor Emanuele 11, Trevi fountain, spanish steps, Vatican, Collseum, arco constantiono, Michelangelos staircase, circo ma imo, and where Caeser got killed.....gelati cafes, pizza cafes and the train stazione! hehe

And now...we're going to see a bit more....then we're off!

Hope you're all well. We'd LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU!!

Tell us what YOU'RE doing...seeing you know all about what we're doing!!!!

NEWS please....how's work? Family? How are your kid/s...? YOU??? What have you been doing on the weekends? At night? During the week? Anytime at all? We haven't heard much about your life..even just the simple things...and we really want to know if all is ok..and whatcha doin....

So! Hopefully, next stop...we'll have heaps of emails from you all!!:-) (Some of you are writing emails to us..and keeping us in touch..and we SO appreciate it..and the news from home..thankyou so much..it really keeps us going! And..to our great friends..yes, an African nite sounds WONDERFUL when we get home!!)

Arrivederci!!