Friday the 9th by Mia

Ruins in the Ghetto

Yesterday we ate horrifying amounts of nutella crepes for breakfast and then hopped on the metro to the area we were going to explore. The metro ride was painful and claustrophobic because we had to transfer at Termini which is the hub for absolutely all public transportation in Rome. Worse, the train we had to catch only came every 5 minutes instead of like 2 minutes so there was a huge build up of people on the platform and another huge buildup of people on the train. Zander kept complaining about feeling claustrophobic and faint. When we finally got off we headed to the Circo Massimo for some lunch because it was already around 1 pm. It had taken a while to get out of the house.

Big memorial museum thing

The Circo Massimo is just a big bit of grass with a track in it. It used to be a huge stadium for chariot racing that seated about 150,000 people. It had stone stands around an oval track with a stone platform in the middle that had statues and altars and other decoration on it. It must have been really nice, and it was the model  for all the other stadiums around, but it eventually fell into disuse. After people stopped using it everyone raided it for stone to build houses and things. That's why all that is left is a big grass field that is shaped like a stadium. The track part is low down, and the stands were on the sides of the depression. The part in the middle is raised for the platform and to keep people from cutting corners. It wasn't that amazing to look at, but it's size was impressive and it was nice to sit on grass to eat lunch.

Soccer ball fishing

After lunch we walked across a little bridge to the Tiber to Isola Tiberina, a tiny island in the middle of the Tiber. In the little bit of river we walked across there were a bunch of man made waterfall things, and at the bottom of each one was about 15 soccer balls. Daddy tried to fish one out with a stick, but he couldn't get it. Then we went to the Church of St. Bartholomeo, but it was closed so we just had a snack in the square in front of it and then got some of the most amazing gelato ever! It was the cheapest we had had so far, and you clould see them making it in the back. The berry flavor had berries in it and the nutella flavor was full of nuttella! So exciting! After that we walked back across the river to some ruins next to a synaguogue  in the Ghetto. There were armed guards surrounding it and I think you had to get expensive guided tours to get in so we just looked at the outside. Then we walked some more and ended up at Piazza Venezia.

Circo Massimo

The Piazza Venezia is a pretty much just a patch of grass that is surrounded by traffic. What makes it special is all the really cool buildings around it. Up some steps is a little square with some nice statues and fountains and the Musei Capitale. We sat up there for a little while and at another snack (we eat a lot when we walk around). Then we went to the most in your face thing on the square, which is a museum/ memorial/ monument that is absoluely gigantic and grand. Its big and white with Greek architecture and two huge statues of Nike on the roof and another on a column up front. Its so nice, that there are guards that wander around shooing people who want to sit and soak it all in off the stairs so others are able to actually walk down. It also has a nice terrace with an even nicer view of Rome's roof tops that is sprinkled with ornate blueish domes. When we were done looking around daddy decided to settle down in the middle of the staircase and was promptly set right by the guard. We ate our third snack at a nearby park instead.

St Bartolomeo square

After our snack, we found a metro station and went back to the apartment. That was really rough because it was 5 pm, the middle of rush hour. We did a bit of shopping on the way home and got a huge bag of produce that is, of course, nearly gone now. For the rest of the day we hung out at home and made some yummy dinner of tortellinis and cheese. (That's what happens when daddy has any part in meal making-- everything gets covered in cheese, onions, and garlic which he usually has me cut up.) We polished that off easily, which is scary considering the amount food we had already eaten during the day (giant breakfast, big lunch, and three snacks). I guess we needed to keep up our energy-- the Vatican was the next day!