Day Five-May 15th

YEA! We slept in 'till 8:00! And then went down for our free breakie..good as usual & good coffee (Americano). The place was packed with Aussies, Brits & us Americans & I met some people from Portland who had been on a cruise from Ft Lauderdale. Back to the room & prepare for our day at the local ruins..the Colosseum & the Roman Forum. On our way to the subway, we stop at a local church, Santa Maria della Vittoria, just 3 blocks from our hotel, and it is fabulous in side! Lots of gold & a wonderful Bernini sculpture- "Ecstasy of St Teresa." (Nice stop!) Down to the metro to catch the subway to our destination & as we exit the underground, there it is! The Massive Colosseum! A huge crowd lined up to see the inside of this structure built by Vespasian in 72-82 AD. It took 10 years to build, but is still standing! The opening celebration was a 100 day ordeal & had many events, including hunts, gladiatorial combats,parades & festivals. Some 60,000 people crowded into this arena for all kinds of events. We once again opted out of the guided tours and saw it all on our on..and Cami's expert sidebars. There were all kinds of museums located inside, plus small scale models on how the animals & participants got to the floor of the arena. Now a little lunch on the grounds & over to the Forum. This was a huge area where there were shops, temples & all kinds of homes & of course the Vestal Virgins Quarters. It has clouded up a bit, and starts to sprinkle as we get to the end of the Forum, and here come the vendors selling umbrellas. We duck into some very nice displays of Nero items & other Roman emperors. The rain kind of dampened the day, but we had seen it all anyway by now, so back to the metro & to the hotel. We did go down to the PC's & checked a few e-mails & chatted with some people from Florida & I get summoned back to the room so we can go to dinner. On the bus to go to some ruins where there are lots of cats..an old temple that is now a cat sanctuary..interesting. A nice stroll thru the narrow streets (alleys) to the Piazza Novana, with 3 lovely fountains, vendors, performers, artwork & 100's of scooters. The fountains, by Bernini, are outstanding, but we wander on ,to the main fountain attraction of this area-The Trevi fountain, by Nicola Salvi in 1627, inspired by Roman triumphal arches. Another large crowd here, but the poliza are keeping them out of the water. (But no uzzies) Now we are looking for a nice place to eat & they're everywhere. Which one? The Hosteria la Danesina-outside on a nice cool night & good food-pasta, salads,& lasagna,plus a carafe of wine & great bread. Now back to the hotel and a good sleep, but some packing for tomorrow's trip to Florence.