26 December 2003 Breakfast with Maxi in the lavishly decorated breakfast room of our hotel. More of that same old "Continental Breakfast" kind of thing with bread and cheese and meats, but also a coffee machine serving really bad coffee. Fortunately for the coffee drinkers the breakfast lady also comes around to serve decent coffee. I opt for yoghurt, Rice Crispies and orange juice.  A very short walk brings us to the Vittorio Emanuele monument again. At the right is Trajan's Column which is situated at the ruins of Trajan's Forum, which is directly across the street from our hotel.  Respecting Rome's historical past let's just to orient ourselves on a map of the ancient city of Rome. Our hotel and Trajan's Forum are located within the yellow square on this photo of a model of Ancient Rome.  Zooming in on the previous picture we get a better view of the area we're talking about. The circle at the left is our hotel. From there we cross the street (a street that to this day still follows the same path) and down some stairs between some buildings (stairs which are still there even though they've been rebuilt along with every other building in the entire area). And then along to the base of Trajan's Column (which I have marked with a purple arrow). Pretty cool huh?  Looking down (and back in time) to the street level of the ancient Romans we see one of the many wild cats that call the ruins home.  And here we have the Vittorio Emanuele monument in all its garish glory. The important thing to remember about this thing is how WHITE it is. Surrounded by earth tones and clay it stands out worse than dandruff on an Armani suit.  From ground level the glaring whiteness isn't as apparent since the thing is huge and fills your entire field of vision. From the air, however, its whiteness is more than apparent, I think. (And no, I wasn't up in an aeroplane to take this photo. I stole this from a book, ok?) I believe it was Mussolini who compared it to a giant wedding cake. Or maybe that was everyone who saw that particular resemblance. And who exactly IS this Vittorio Emanuele? (You ask.) He was the first king of Italy. Way back in 1861 (six years before Canada became a country) the Italians finally succeeded in defeating the Austrians and the Kingdom of Italy was founded. True to Italian form this "kingdom" lasted a bit more than half a century until just after the end of the First World War (ironically also when the Italians, with a lot of help from France, England and America, defeated the Austrians again). And why does this guy deserve the biggest and most obtrusive monument in the history of man? Not sure. But maybe the more appropriate question would be: Why did the Italians spend so much money on this thing when their entire country was broke? But anyway... who am I to try and understand the ways of the Italians? Ask Andres.  Directly in front of Moby the Monument is Piazza Venezia. In automobile terms this is the heart of the city. It reminds me of Trafalgar Square in London for some reason. The building on the left is the Palazzo Venezia (great names huh?) and if you look carefully you can see a small balcony at the centre of it. It was this palace that Mussolini converted to his own personal palace during his reign of Italy and this balcony where he used to appear to wave to the crowds and make speeches and stuff.  Here we see a old photograph from the 1920s - 1930s giving a reverse angle view of Piazza Venezia and showing Palazzo Venezia and the Vittorio Emanuele monument. Mussolini is up on the balcony at the right, hence the crowds. (And no, I didn't travel back in time to take this picture before the Second World War. I stole this off the Internet.)  It is very difficult to take pictures in Rome without someone walking in front of them. But I still try. I had to be sneaky, however, since I didn't want this big dude dressed as a Roman Legionnaire to come over and talk to me. He did anyway, but I ran away. I am reluctant to call the present day citizens of Rome by the name "Romans". To me the "Romans" were a group of people who lived in ancient Rome and (more importantly) had their shit together. The same cannot be said of the present day "Italians who live in Rome", hence my reluctance. If I were an ancient Roman I think that I would be insulted to be compared to the present day Italians. The Ancient Romans managed to forge an gigantic empire, regulate currency and government, build fantastic roads, and conquer nations. The modern Italians of the last 150 years haven't done as well. Italy was on the WINNING side of the First World War and STILL didn't get the territory they'd hoped to get - so much for an empire. As for their currency and government, well... let's just say that they are lucky to be in the European Union and using the Euro. As for their roads? Come on. It's like driving through Saskatchewan (or Belgium). And on the final note... the conquering of nations. Oh sure they conquered Ethiopia in the 1930s, but it was they third attempt and... come on... it's Ethiopia! I could probably conquer Ethiopia. And remember that terrible rifle that Lee Harvey Oswald was supposed to have assassinated President Kennedy with? The "world's worst shoulder weapon"? That was Italian. But the coffee, sports cars, racing motorcycles and suits are fantastic. Every country has to be good at something, right? At any rate, it's a good thing for ancient Rome that this rather oversized centurion in my photo isn't an accurate representation of what the Roman legions were really like.  This is where we will talk about "digging down" to build the Forums. So bear with me a second. You see, during the reign of Trajan (AD 98 - 117) the Roman Empire was at its absolute greatest. (And as you can see the Romans invaded Iraq too.) We've all heard of Hadrian's Wall in England, right? The low stone wall that marks the extent of the Roman Empire during the reign of Hadrian. You'll notice that during the reign of Trajan the border extends considerably further North than Hadrian's Wall, which is interesting because Hadrian was the Emperor AFTER Trajan. (In other words the empire was already starting to shrink by Hadrian's time.) Anyway, to celebrate the fact that he was the greatest Emperor ever Trajan built the greatest of all the Forums in ancient Rome. To make space for this Forum he cut into one of the hills of Rome, specifically one called the Quirinal. And where is all of this leading?  Looking back toward the hotel we see again Trajan's Column that formed the focus of Trajan's Forum. (Off to the right would have been the main buildings.) Circling around the column are depictions of various battles that Trajan's forces won during his reign and other important events. In the base were once held his cremated remains. And all the way at the top would once have been his statue. (It now has a statue of some pope or something on it.) But interestingly enough it was the top of the column that marked the height of ground level BEFORE they starting cutting into the hill to make space for the Forum. Now, of course the restored column is now sitting at present day ground level so the level of the top is higher than it should be, but the total distance that the Romans dug down into the hill at this particular point is still accurate (from top to bottom of the column, in other words). Impressive.  Making our way up the steps of the Vittorio Emanuele monument. You can get a better sense of the elaborate carvings that make up the façade of the structure. (Also bearing in mind that this was built at the end of the 19th century and barely completed before the start of the First World War. It's not some ancient, or even Renaissance, masterpiece in other words. So in addition to being gaudy it is also a stylistic anachronism. Making something LOOK old gives it credibility, right?)  One of the statues flanking the staircase of the Vittorio Emanuele monument.  The other statue flanking the staircase of the Vittorio Emanuele monument.  I had to wait a long time for some British chickie to get out of the way for me to take this photograph. But I think it was worth it. Here you see the garish Vittorio Emanuele monument being put to good use. This is the tomb of the Unknown Soldier (from the First World War) guarded by a pair of Italian military types 24 hours a day (or at least I think it must be 24 hours a day.... I've been past here pretty late and they've still been there).  Back down to street level again we move around to the back side of the Vittorio Emanuele monument and once again we see a good example of how far below the ground level was in Roman times. This picture is also good because at the top you can see a Christian fresco decorating a ruined alcove. Despite being a Roman building it still found in Christian times. (IE Post-Constantine / Holy Roman Empire and beyond.)  Climbing up again we ascend the stairs to the summit of another of the hills of Rome - the Capitoline. This part of Rome was once a sacred place to the ancient Romans and remains central to Roman life to this day. It is here that the offices of the Mayor and the city government are located. Flanking the stairs are statues of Castor and Pollux (the twin gods of the zodiacal constellation Gemini) who are reputed to have helped defend the city of Rome during the Republican Era. The square above is called the Piazza di Campidoglio and was was designed by none other than Michelangelo himself (as were the stairs leading up to it) and employs a really effective visual device where the buildings at the left and right of you as you enter the square are not parallel to each other, but rather their façades become further and further apart as they approach the building directly facing you. This "widening perspective" imparts on the viewer a strange sensation of space as you reach the top of the stairs. But it's more felt than actually seen or noticed. I'm going to have to utilise another stolen photo to show you what I mean, I guess.  I am sure you can see what I mean now that you see it from above but at ground level it is not apparent and just gives a really wonderful feeling of opening up as you cross the square. I don't know, it's difficult to describe.  Checking back with our photo of ancient Rome we see the area of the Capitoline circled in purple.  From the back of the Capitoline hill one has wonderful views across the Forum. Here we see the ruins with yet another of the hills of Rome in the background - the Palatine.  Another view across the Forum taken from the opposite side of the back of the Capitoline hill. The columns directly in the foreground were once the Temple of Saturn which served as a public treasury building in Roman times as well as the storage facility for the standards of the Legions. At the right and a bit further away in the distance are three columns which are the remains of the Temple of Castor and Pollux (remember those two?). And far away in the distance you can also see the Colosseum.  Turning slightly to the left we have another view of the Forum. The Temple of Saturn is now at the right and the remains of the Temple of Vespasian at the left. At the center is the Arch of Septimius Severus (AD 193-211) who is known for being the one to stabilise the Roman Empire after the not very successful reign of Emperor Commodus. (Commodus being better known as Joachim Phoenix's character (the young emperor) in the movie Gladiator, although the events in that movie were fictional.)  Referring to another model of ancient Rome... Which reminds me, I guess that I should mention where I am stealing these photos of models of ancient Rome from huh? Well, the big one that is one posters and what not is a famous model built by a guy named Paul Bigot (1870 - 1942) who was apparently a big ancient Rome freak. The model is apparently now on display at the University of Caen in France, but you can check out their website for more info (if you are so inclined) - www.unicaen.fr/rome/anglais/maquette.html. (But I have to warn you that the website is disappointingly lacking photos of the model as a whole. I had to steal those from posters that I own.) The smaller model that is one built by a fellow named André Caron from Québec who built a replica of the Bigot model in his garage or something. His website is quite good (except that it's in Québecois). It also has some computer generated models by a fellow named Jacques Plassard. But anyway... now that I've satisfied posterity and those people who thought that I actually had a model of ancient Rome in my back yard (the same people who thought that I was sitting on stage with U2 and Alanis Morissette) let's get back to the photo, shall we? Just to orient you on what we're looking at here... imagine the previous photograph showing the Forum with the Colosseum in the distance. In Roman times I would have had to be standing near the bottom right to take this picture (Green Dot). I realise that it probably just looks like a big jumble of buildings but hopefully once we do a walk-through it will make more sense. So let's go take a stroll through ancient Rome, shall we?  A view across the ruins as we descend down to their level. (Temple of Saturn at left - Colosseum at the right.)  The ruined columns of the Temple of Saturn towering above us with the bright sun behind.  The Arch of Septimius Severus as seen from ground level. As you can see arches survive much better than temples constructed of columns.  Looking back up to the Capitoline and where we were just standing a few minutes ago (see the people at the railing?).  There isn't much left of the Forum these days, as you can tell. This is thanks to the general decline of the Roman Empire itself, as well as Earthquakes and invading armies such as the Germans and Normans coming in and wrecking the place as well. Referring to the André Caron model we can see a few of the things we just looked at. From top left and moving clockwise we have: The Temple of Saturn, the Temple of Vespasian, the Arch of Septimius Severus, and the Temple of Castor and Pollux.  Here's my favourite picture of the entire trip. All around the ruins are marble columns and bits of ancient structures just lying around on the ground. Here we see a typical "debris field" with an engraved marble block in the foreground. I have no idea what it says but I just love that it says "CAESAR" on it.  More debris lying around, as well as an interesting vine-covered tree and the remnants of some ancient brick building.  Looking up at the Palatine hill from the Forum. Most of that stuff is closed off to visitors, but just imagine the extent of the various inner hallways and rooms even in a ruined state.  Here we see the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina. Erected by Emperor Antoninus Pius (AD 138 - 161) to honour and deify his deceased wife Faustina the building was later converted to a Christian church (as you can tell), which explains its generally good state of repair.  This is the Temple of Romulus. You can't really see it but the green door at the front is the original bronze door (complete with lock) from the Roman era.  Referring again to the André Caron model we see the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina at the left and the Temple of Romulus at the right as they were almost 2000 years ago.  In case you didn't guess already we've been walking along through the Forum in the direction of the Colosseum. But here we pause to look back at what we've just passed through. From left to right we have the three columns of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, then a side view of the columns of the Temple of Saturn, then the three columns (two visible) of the Temple of Vespasian, then the Arch of Septimius Severus, then the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, and finally the Temple of Romulus. And, of course, a bit to the right and above center we have blazing white top sections of the Vittoria Emanuele monument visible over the roofs of the Capitoline hill.  So let's re-cap our little walk now, shall we? (Don't you guys just love these little things of mine?) So, from the green dot we walked along the approximate path of the purple line to reach the purple dot which is approximately where I was standing to take the previous photograph looking back at the Capitoline hill. Along the way I've marked the ruins that I pointed out. But as you can see there are many more than that. I've just pointed these particular ones out because they are the ones I took photos of and generally the most obvious ones when you stroll through the Forum.  And just in case you might be interested I've also included a computer generated image from André Caron's website (model by Jacques Plassard) that gives you an idea of what it might have looked like to stand in the Forum at ground level way back in the days of the Romans. To have this view you would have to have been standing approximately in front of the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina and looking back toward the Capitoline hill. Visible (from the buildings I've pointed out) are the Temple of Saturn, the Temple of Vespasian and the Arch of Septimius Severus. And last, but not least, if you were a bit jealous of my little walk through history then I invite you to experience André Caron's stunning home movie fly-over of the Roman Forum.  I hope you haven't overdosed on pictures of models. I just wanted to give you a sense of the layout of the place. But anyway, moving right along... Here we see another resident of the Forum looking for a safe way to get down off the ruins, or perhaps trying to find some of those infamous wild cats to chase around.  Leaving the Forum(s) now we arrive at Constantine's Arch. In an odd way Constantine is one of the better known Emperor's of Rome in that "everyone knows" that Istanbul used to be called Constantinople (even if they don't know what the former name refers to). Most people also know that it was Emperor Constantine was the one who made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire (somewhat thanks to his mom, who was a Christian) - hence the Roman Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire. This also, in turn, explains (for those who might ever have wondered) why the Pope lives in Rome. On the other side of the coin is the fact that other than these two things most people (myself included) don't really know that much about Emperor Constantine. This may be, in part, because Shakespeare didn't write a play about him (as he did with some of the other Roman Emperors). Julius Caesar we've all heard about. He was killed by the senators and a guy named Brutus. After Julius came (eventually) Emperor Octavian, who changed his name to Augustus Caesar for some reason. He fought with Marc Antony and Cleopatra (more Shakespeare) and defeated them. And from there a bunch of the following tyrants called themselves "Caesar" as well. I am not sure why on that one though, since the Romans killed the original Caesar. But, then again, it was the Senators who killed Julius Caesar. Probably they were mad because Julius was taking over the Empire as its ruler and leaving the Senate with less power. (Rome was founded as a Republic based on the Greek model, you see, and remained that way for several hundred years until some people came along (Julius Caesar) and somehow switched it to a dictatorship. I am not sure how that happened exactly though.) But on the bright side of things... who would remember Rome as well if it weren't for the "Caesars"? Quick! Name one thing you know about Republican Rome! Anything! Yup. Drawing a blank huh? Me too. And then BANG! Julius Caesar comes along and went out and built an Empire. That's the road to being remembered. But anyway... I have digressed considerably from the discussion of Constantine's Arch, haven't I? All I really wanted to mention was that it was built from statues and columns and other bits that they stole from other monuments and buildings around Rome at the time. As a result it has a bit of a kind of glued together from spare parts look to it. If you look carefully. It's funny how conquering tyrants like to build these victory arches. Rome has lots of them. Napoleon too, of course, built the Arc de Triomphe in Paris (or should we say that he STARTED to build it since it wasn't actually completed until twenty years after his defeat at Waterloo and he was already living on an island off the coast of Africa). And then there was Hitler who planned a ridiculously enormous "Arch of Triumph" for Berlin that was five times the size of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Personally, if I was a conquering emperor I'd have some more useful things built. Like a chain of good fast-food and family restaurants or an amusement park.  And you knew that this moment was coming. After our little stroll through history we arrive at the building that IS history - the Colosseum. But before we take a closer look it's time to take advantage of the sun and the sidewalk cafés of Rome.  Maxi soaks up some sun while I cower in the shade. At the right you can see the restaurant dude with menus at the ready to accost any stray passers-by.  Ok. So this is the Colosseum again. I love this picture because I took it so the sun would be JUST at the edge of the building's façade. Two centimetres to the right and I'd be blind. You can see the halo it is creating at the side of the structure as well as the cool hazing effect on the lens is apparent on the lighting for Constantine's Arch and the trees and buildings in the distance at the bottom left. But of course that plan rendered the entire left side of the photo completely in the shade and therefore too dark to see anything, but a quick bit of photo enhancement fixes that right up, as you can see. Yes, it's true. I enhance nearly all the photos I share. The human eye is just better than any camera and it takes a bit of cleaning up sometimes to make them look that little bit nicer. Plus, what about all those gloomy rainy days that I take pictures on? A bit of adjustment to the lighting brightens them right up. Oh yah... and the turkey... I didn't have a meat thermometer so I left it in a bit long and the skin was a bit dark as a result. But I couldn't let anyone think I was a lousy cook so I took the liberty of lightening the turkey skin in one of the photos where it appeared to be totally scorched. Let this be a lesson to you to never believe what you see. But the picture is still very nice, if you ask me.  Just outside the Colosseum there are some of those infamous cats sitting around in the sun. I know what you are asking yourself... Were these cats really there or did I just digitally add them afterwards? No. But if you like I could do that.  How is that? Better? Three extra cats for you to enjoy.  The original outer façade of the Colosseum is famously incomplete, as you can see. But it has held up quite well considering the construction consists of walls and archways instead of one single solid structure (such as the pyramids, for example). As many know, the name Colosseum is actually not the original name given to the theatre by the Romans. Its original name was the Flavian Amphitheatre but was generally called the "Colosseum" due to the nearby statue of Emperor Nero that stood nearby. (The "Flavian" bit comes from the family name of the Emperor and his son who built it - Vespasian and Titus, respectively, starting construction in AD 72.)  Oh no! Not more models! Sorry, but since the Nero statue is no longer there I need to use these models to show you what I mean. At the left is the Colosseum and at the bottom is Constantine's Arch. And at the opposite of the square near the top of the photo is the "colossal" statue of Nero from which the Colosseum takes its name. But the original name (Flavian Amphitheatre) was an eye-opener to me when I first visited Rome many years ago. You see, in the English language (or maybe just in Canada) it is common to refer to a semi-circular arrangement of a theatre as an "amphitheatre". But, of course, the "amphi" in amphitheatre means "duo" - two in other words (kind of like "amphibian", an animal that lives in water AND on land). A proper amphitheatre is one that goes around in a complete circle - TWO "theatres" in other words. A half circle is just a theatre. A complete circle is an amphitheatre. And while we're thinking about THAT particular little weird linguistic misunderstanding let's also think about the present day spelling of the word "Colosseum" as well. In both proper English and the American bastardisation of the language the accepted spelling is "Coliseum". But "Colis" has nothing to do (in either English or Latin) with "Colossus". It's phonetically right, I suppose, but overlooks the entire origin of the word. Makes you think, doesn't it? You'll never view the word "amphitheatre" the same way again.  Another view of the infamous wild cats of the Roman Forum, sunning themselves just outside the Colosseum. I particularly like the one in the front lying on its back.  Inside the Colosseum now you can get an idea of that immense destruction caused by earthquakes and pillaging.  Making our way through the passageways of the ancient amphitheatre. Just above our heads would have been rows of seats, but all of that is gone now.  Looking through one of the interior archways to the interior of the Colosseum.  Nothing remains of the original floor of the Colosseum thus exposing the maze of holding cells and rooms and hallways that were underneath all the action in days gone by. In this photo, however, you can see that a part of the floor has been reconstructed and a walkway across the middle of the theatre has been erected (except that you aren't allowed to go down there).  At the bottom right of this picture you can see a small section showing reconstruction of the original Colosseum seating.  Another view showing the open floor of the Colosseum. Trapdoors and "elevators" were used to great effect during the contests to make animals and other threats appear out of the ground. (Such as in the movie Gladiator with the tigers jumping on Russell Crowe.) In addition to gladiators fighting and dying in the Colosseum there were also staged hunts of exotic animals. These animals were brought to Rome from all over the empire to be hunted and killed in front of audiences. A strange consequence of this was that after the decline of the empire and during centuries of non-use the Colosseum apparently became overgrown with all sorts of exotic plants and trees from all over the Roman empire but not native to Rome itself, the seeds of which were brought to Rome along with the animals.  Here we see the Reverand Brendan Powell Smith's reconstruction of the Colosseum (the same fellow who brought us the Brick Testament, remember?). Even in the Lego world they bring exotic animals into the arena to fight. Here we see a brave gladiator up against three crocodiles.  Now here's a REALLY exotic animal, although I doubt there were many polar bears fighting at the actual Colosseum.  And the reason they didn't bring many polar bears was because they were just too damm fierce. This one took this guy's hand right off! (Don't you just love the Lego skeleton?)  An exterior archway beautifully frames a glimpse of the Palatine hill in the distance with some of the very distinctive Rome pine trees.  The open floor of the Colosseum again and what remains of the high exterior façade at the top of the photo standing nearly 50 metres high. An un-explained bit of history is the presence of a naval barracks for nearly one hundred men very close to the Colosseum. It has been theorised that the purpose of these men was to operate the "roof" of the Colosseum that consisted of gigantic sail-like material that was extended like an awning partially over the open roof of the theatre to provide shade and protection from the elements. These men would have done their work at the very summit of the Colosseum that we see in this picture. Another idea regarding the presence of naval men so near the Colosseum has been the reports that the Colosseum (perhaps before the underground passages under the floor were constructed) was, at times, flooded with water to recreate naval battles complete with ships floating around inside.  A view of the rows of slanted support columns that would once have been capped with spectator seating.  A view to the outside world from the Colosseum with Constantine's Arch in the foreground, the Palatine hill at the left in the background and the Forum (and the Arch of Titus) stretching away to the distance at the right.  Through an exterior arch the Forum and the Palatine hill is visible.  Stopping for a rest on some steps it is easy to imagine sitting here to watch gladiatorial games along with 50.000 other screaming Romans. The contests were a tradition handed down from the Etruscans (the previous peoples of Rome, for lack of a better definition) who made ritual sacrifices upon the deaths of important figures. The Roman adaptation eventually became that contests would be held to honour the passing of an emperor or some other occasion. Some of the games would last a hundred days and thousands of animals and men (and women... there were also women gladiators) would be killed. The life of a gladiator was rather like that of a rock star, despite the fact that on a social scale they were considered to be lower than actors and undertakers. Nonetheless the money and glamour attracted many members of the aristocracy to try their hand at fighting, although most gladiators were prisoners of war and slaves who were trained at special schools to compete in the games. Well known gladiators were rarely killed at the end of a fight as they were valuable commodities, what with their merchandising potential. Figurines of famous gladiators were sold to the fans as well as all sorts of cheesy merchandise like we see nowadays for sports stars and what-not. An example would be household oil lamps decorated with the implements and likeness of a favoured gladiator. And then there was the chicks, let's not forget the chick appeal of being a gladiator. And the money. The money was very good for those who survived the contests. An unknown gladiator could be paid as much as five times the average annual salary of a typical Roman for just a SINGLE appearance in the arena. A well known gladiator (a crowd draw) could be paid more than twenty times that amount. And despite the fact that they may be slaves or prisoners they still received this money and could eventually buy their own freedom. Another path to freedom would be to fight valiantly and earn the respect and admiration of the emperor who might then grant you your freedom. An idea that was covered in the movie Gladiator. Actually, why don’t you just watch that film and I'll stop typing?  This is a great picture. A blinding shaft of sunlight pierces the dim interior of the Colosseum.  This is a pretty famous view of the Colosseum, don't you think?  Moving away from the Colosseum now we get a not-often-seen view from the middle of one of Rome's major roads - Via dei Fori Imperiali. Not often seen because if this road usually isn't closed off like this. I would probably be flattened if I tried to take this picture on a normal day.  I am not sure what the occasion was (other than being the day after Christmas) that prompted the closing of this road, but it made for some good pictures, I think.  And the view along this road works both ways. Here you can see it leading through the ancient Roman Forums to Piazza Venezia and the Vittorio Emanuel monument.  A view across the Forum with the Vittorio Emanuele monument in the distance (again... see how obtrusive it is?).  The roof of our hotel should be visible in this photo as it is located just across the street from the back side of Trajan's market (which are what are pictured here). The market was sort of a Roman shopping mall where goods from all over the empire could be found. It was also used (I think) for the dispensing of rations to the people of Rome, but I am not 100% sure about that. The Market has a distinctive curved façade that makes it easy to recognise. It also helps that it is quite well preserved (unlike most of the buildings in the Forums).  Here you see a restored statue of Emperor Trajan standing in front of the location of his Forum and his Market in the background. I think that this statue is interesting because it is virtually identical to a statue of Trajan that was dug up in London near the Tower of London and the Roman city walls that are still standing there. Just outside the Tower Bridge underground station you can find this particular statue, usually with a McDonalds cup stuck into its up-raised hand by some quick-witted passer-by.  And so that brings us full circle. We have returned to where we started on our little tour of ancient Rome. The purple line indicates the walking route from our hotel to our present location with a few sites of interest marked along the way. You can also see in this picture in the last leg of the journey that the Via dei Fori Imperiali really cuts through the remnants of the Roman Forum on its path to Piazza Venezia. Also note the distinctive curved façade of Trajan's Market that is still evident today on what remains of it.  But now it is time to leave the Rome of the ancients and visit the Rome of the Catholic Church. A quick cab ride brings us to Piazza San Pietro and St Peter's Basilica and the Vatican. I was surprised to see a gigantic Nativity Scene dominating the centre of the square. The giant Christmas Tree I could have guessed would be there and the plundered Egyptian obelisk with the cross on top is always there, but the cheesy life-size plastic figures of Mary, Joseph and the rest (oh yah, Jesus too) inside a giant wooden manger was a total shock. How tacky.  As you can see in this photo that I stole off the internet the heart of St Peter's Square is elliptical in shape and is partially enclosed at its ends with... ummm... what do you call a structure like this? A bunch of columns with a roof on top?  Well anyway the square is enclosed with these rows of columns with roof on top with statues of saints (or something) as decorations. And as you can see in this pictures there is a virtual forest of columns making up this structure... but...  ...if you should happen to stand at one of the two focal points of the ellipse the columns all magically line up and appear as a single row of columns and giving an almost un-obstructed view of the streets outside the square. Pretty cool huh?  Here we see the front of the famous St Peter's Basilica, its dome barely visible. This is the place where St Peter was supposedly buried after being crucified by Emperor Nero. Constantine, being the Christian sympathiser that he was (because of his mom), had a basilica erected here during his reign. And just look what's become of all that. And for those who don't know St Peter was the same Peter that was the #1 disciple of Jesus who went around spreading his "teachings" after Jesus's untimely end. The whole gang of them were anti-Rome, of course, which is why the Romans were after them in the first place and so it was that Peter was running away from Rome when he had some kind of vision or something on the road and decided to turn back and turn himself in. He insisted that they crucify him upside down (so as not to be hung in the same pose as Jesus) and the Romans were more than happy to oblige. For more clarity on the reality of the life of Jesus I recommend the following movies: The Last Temptation of Christ (up to the crucifixion), Jesus of Nazareth by some church group or something, and The Life of Bryan by Monty Python. The truth is somewhere in-between all of them, I suspect. Anyway, as it is the day after Christmas (and therefore the day after the Christmas Mass) the square is set up with seats near the front and giant televisions to let the people at the back see the pope better. Not surprisingly St Peter's and the Vatican is one of the most visited places on the face of the Earth and with all the tourists, visiting nuns and priests, and the faithful running around it is all very crowded and the queues to see things are impossibly long. As such... we didn't bother to go inside. Sorry. (I've seen it before though, so don't feel sorry for me.)  A row of those fantastic Roman trees is visible over the top of the columns of St Peter's Square.  One of my favourite things about the Vatican is the Swiss guards. You see, way back at the start of the 16th century Pope Julius the Second was in need of a small group of reliable and effective fighting men to protect himself and the many treasures that the Catholic Church had lying around. Not surprisingly the pope was unable to find anyone who was either reliable or effective in the immediate vicinity of Rome or Italy and turned, instead, to the Swiss.  You can always count on the Swiss, I say. Here you can see their interesting uniforms, basically unchanged since the 16th century. They carry pikes, but other than that have been otherwise unarmed since the 1970s when their ranks were thinned out and the armed guards disbanded. Nowadays only about one hundred guards remain. And it's not only for protection that the Popes turned to the Swiss. The Vatican Post Office is ALSO run by the Swiss and it is often heard that one should mail their postcards from the Vatican as opposed to elsewhere in Rome since the Italian postal service runs about as well as the rest of the country and their speed of service leaves much to be desired. Slow, in other words. Or "lento", as the Italians say. And if it sounds like I have a bit of affection toward the Swiss it might explain a lot to tell you that the first time I came to Switzerland was after having been in Italy for a week. For me it was like arriving in the Promised Land where people were friendly, spoke English, were polite, the trains were on time, things worked, and cars didn't try to mow you down on the streets. A stark contrast to Italy, in other words. Little wonder that I have affection for the Swiss. At that time I'd just spent the previous three days explaining to the hotel in Rome that my shower drain didn't work and all I could do was take a 12 second shower or else the water filled up and soaked the entire bathroom. The Italians told me that they'd fixed it every day that I asked, but of course it was never fixed. So just before checking out I put my backpack 20 metres down at the end of the hall and took a nice long shower. By the time I finished I had to wade out of the room and put my socks on in the hallway as the water followed me to the elevator.  And you thought that going through security at the UN was bothersome. Imagine attending the Christmas Mass and having to go through security here at St Peter's along with 200.000 Catholic wackos.  Birds are dumb. Why do they all follow each other around like this? Is there a leader or all they all just following each other? Anyway, by the Vatican there are thousands of birds alighting off the rooftops every once and a while. It's quite a sight to see.  I like this picture. At the bottom right you can see the sign pointing pedestrians toward the Vatican Museums (to stand in line for ten hours to see the Sistine Chapel). At the top there are some more birds as well as a crescent moon starting to appear as the sky begins to fade to twilight. (Plus the security camera... nice to know that the pope has some technology working for him.)  St Peter's by night. You can see the crescent moon and the planet Venus down and to the right of it.  I tried to take the same photo again but using low-light conditions. But since I am not a tripod I wasn't able to hold the camera still enough to get a truly sharp photograph. But it's cool all the same. Check out the trail from the dome of St Peter's that I suspect is a bird that flew off the roof while I took the picture.  One might wonder why I would include such a terrible photo as this one... and the answer is simple. Because of the two dudes behind me. You see... being the day after Christmas nothing was open and none of the restaurants I wanted to try were closed. As a result it was quite difficult to find something to eat. By magic, however, we chanced across a little restaurant called Miraggio that must have been run by brothers of something because the three waiter dudes were less than a metre tall each. You can't tell from the photo, unfortunately, but let's just say that your eyes were at the same level when they were standing beside your table and you were sitting. It was a great restaurant actually. I enjoyed it. I think it was Sardinian in style because of all the Sardinia posters all over the place, but what would I know?  After dinner it's back to the hotel, which takes us past the Vittorio Emanuele yet again. But it's kind of nice at night, actually - less white, and I like the Christmas tree all lit up as well.  Before turning in for the night I want to look at the Forum again from the Capitoline hill. With the ruins illuminated it is quite a sight with the Temple of Saturn in the foreground and the Colosseum and Arch of Titus in the distance, except that in this picture it's a bit dark. Let's try low-light mode again, shall we? I can put the camera on the railing to steady it.  Now that is a work of art, don't you think? How beautiful is that? (I digitally sharpened it a bit as well, I admit.) Check out the Colosseum in the background. And if you look at the top right you can see a fuzzy blue spot. That, my friends, is the star Sirius (the brightest star in the sky). In low-light mode it really shows up as blue (which is what colour it is...).  Turning slightly to the left as I did earlier today (when I took these exact photos by daylight) we see (left to right) the Temple of Vespasian, the Arch of Septimius Severus, and the Temple of Saturn (again).  Returning to the summit of the Capitoline hill brings us back across the Piazza di Campidoglio again. At the centre of the square is a figure of a man on a horse. This is a statue of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (better known as Richard Harris's character from the movie Gladiator) but in earlier times it was thought to be a statue of Emperor Constantine and was therefore spared from being destroyed as were many other statues of the pagan Roman Emperors.  The last time I was here there was massive construction for the millennium taking place so on my return I had a hard time finding this... however, here at the base of the front of the statue is a small iron marker set into the stone. This is the absolute heart of Rome, and therefore also the heart of the Roman Empire. Everyone knows the saying that "all roads lead to Rome", well this is the point to which every road led right here. The centre of the world.  Almost back at the hotel now I pause to take a photo along the Via dei Fori Imperiali with the Colosseum in the distance. I love those rows of Roman pines lining the road. 
 
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