Rome (deel 2)
In October 2017, I traveled to Rome and Athens, a trip to the sun and back to antiquity. This article is the second installment, about my further wanderings through ancient Rome. You can find the other installments here: Rome Part 1 | Athens and Piraeus [easy_panorama id="1044"]
Then came the strangest moment: we walked outside, and at the neighbor's table, there were signs indicating that the restaurant where we'd just eaten would be serving frozen food. Three of the waitstaff were also standing outside and asked us how the frozen food tasted. Apparently, they can't stand it when someone dines at their neighbors'. Or is this just a normal way to deal with competition there? Very strange. That's certainly not going to win our hearts (and stomachs). If this is how this embassy represents its country, we'd happily go and eat with the couple next door.
In the old city center, the various well-known attractions are close together. We covered quite a few kilometers in Rome. For three days in a row, my pedometer app showed nearly 15 km a day. In the Roman Forum, we walked through the ruins of the ancient city. When I wanted to look down from a wall next to a higher street, I suddenly found myself with my hand in bird droppings—wonderful. The suspected perpetrator was also just sitting on the wall enjoying the view. Oh well, I couldn't blame him. 
The Pantheon was, for me, one of the most impressive things I saw during this trip. The building was built as a temple between 118 and 125 AD. It's still in excellent condition. Impressive, especially considering how the other monuments are often reduced to ruins due to the wars and earthquakes that have occurred over the years. Especially since the dome is made of unreinforced concrete. The building itself is round, and the dome forms a semi-sphere; the space beneath it is exactly the same height as the dome, to the centimeter. There's a hole at the top, which made the dome more earthquake-resistant. Because of the hole, you see a circle of sunlight moving along the roof during the day (you could use it as a sundial). Because there's a hole, rain can also get in. The floor is slightly curved to drain that rainwater. Smart guys, those Romans. [easy_panorama id="1049"] Other tourist attractions were, in my opinion, just that, tourist attractions. The Trevi Fountain was teeming with tourists, and of course, selfie stick sellers. It wasn't much different at the Spanish Steps. But we still managed to see those as well. [easy_panorama id="1050"]
In Rome, we passed Castel Sant'Angelo every day. That's why we went inside on our last day. It's served various purposes: mausoleum, fortress, prison, and papal residence. There's also an old city wall with a walkway that runs from the castle all the way to the Vatican (seen again in Angels & Demons). But the best part was the view of the city. From the roof, you had a clear view of St. Peter's, the Tiber River, and the various buildings in the old city center. It was wonderful to see it all again from above. [easy_panorama id="1051"]
Colosseum
One of the must-see sights in Rome is the Colosseum. In this ancient stadium, gladiators fought for life and death, and yes, people were also thrown to the lions here. Outside, it was already bustling, with, of course, our friends, the street vendors. Once inside, you could see how tunnels for cells and stables once existed beneath the playing field. We were able to visit several of the stadium's rings. The Colosseum is being renovated piece by piece. The newer stones outside already showed that a section that had once collapsed had been rebuilt. Inside, a flat floor had been created at the far end of the field. Models showed that a small building once stood there, housing the Roman emperor. Once it's all finished, a potential remake of Gladiator could be filmed on location. After all that, we were greeted enthusiastically at the exit by a horde of street vendors with "waterwaterwater" and "Selfie stick?", nice sales pitch man… [easy_panorama id="1042"] [easy_panorama id="1043"]Fickle embassy
In Italy, you eat Italian, that much is clear. We, of course, had various types of pasta and pizza. Delicious, but not a particularly interesting story. But the place where we ate on Wednesday suddenly had a strange aftertaste on Thursday. Perhaps it was already in the name, which translated into Google Translate as "Fickle Embassy." On Wednesday evening, we were craving pizza. We saw a restaurant with some tasty options on the menu outside and decided to go inside. The waiters there were more than happy to show off a cart with all sorts of unusual fish and lobster. Their enthusiasm seemed to be considerably weaker for a few clueless foreigners who just wanted a simple pizza. The waiter coughed strangely / "huh," and you felt like you were being ignored. The water that was poured with the food, plus the tip, was also added to the receipt. The pizza was fine, but otherwise, not a great experience. We saw that the restaurant next door had all sorts of motorsport paraphernalia and decided to eat there the next day. So, we returned to that street the next evening. Waiters from the night before greeted us (they stand outside every restaurant, luring customers), but we immediately went into the neighboring restaurant, "Obladi Oblada." The decor and atmosphere were very unusual, but I immediately liked it. The Red Hot Chili Peppers concert tickets were already hanging next to me, there were plenty of good rock classics on display, and there was also an F1 scale model signed by legend Ayrton Senna. When I asked the owner if they were racing fans, it turned out they were. He even dealt in memorabilia. He showed us that further down the restaurant was a signed Ferrari F1 steering wheel and also signed gloves used in James Hunt's last Monaco Grand Prix (immortalized in the film Rush). His collection also turned out to include a signed rear wing from Ayrton Senna's Formula 1 car, which he had tested in Italy before crashing a week or two later at the next Grand Prix in Imola. Okay, you wouldn't expect that. The lasagna was excellent, by the way, and the dessert was a homemade cake made by the owner's wife with ice cream and fresh pineapple, which she cut for us. Nothing to complain about. Then came the strangest moment: we walked outside, and at the neighbor's table, there were signs indicating that the restaurant where we'd just eaten would be serving frozen food. Three of the waitstaff were also standing outside and asked us how the frozen food tasted. Apparently, they can't stand it when someone dines at their neighbors'. Or is this just a normal way to deal with competition there? Very strange. That's certainly not going to win our hearts (and stomachs). If this is how this embassy represents its country, we'd happily go and eat with the couple next door.Walking tour through Rome
In the old city center, the various well-known attractions are close together. We covered quite a few kilometers in Rome. For three days in a row, my pedometer app showed nearly 15 km a day. In the Roman Forum, we walked through the ruins of the ancient city. When I wanted to look down from a wall next to a higher street, I suddenly found myself with my hand in bird droppings—wonderful. The suspected perpetrator was also just sitting on the wall enjoying the view. Oh well, I couldn't blame him. The Pantheon was, for me, one of the most impressive things I saw during this trip. The building was built as a temple between 118 and 125 AD. It's still in excellent condition. Impressive, especially considering how the other monuments are often reduced to ruins due to the wars and earthquakes that have occurred over the years. Especially since the dome is made of unreinforced concrete. The building itself is round, and the dome forms a semi-sphere; the space beneath it is exactly the same height as the dome, to the centimeter. There's a hole at the top, which made the dome more earthquake-resistant. Because of the hole, you see a circle of sunlight moving along the roof during the day (you could use it as a sundial). Because there's a hole, rain can also get in. The floor is slightly curved to drain that rainwater. Smart guys, those Romans. [easy_panorama id="1049"] Other tourist attractions were, in my opinion, just that, tourist attractions. The Trevi Fountain was teeming with tourists, and of course, selfie stick sellers. It wasn't much different at the Spanish Steps. But we still managed to see those as well. [easy_panorama id="1050"]Castel Sant'Angelo
In Rome, we passed Castel Sant'Angelo every day. That's why we went inside on our last day. It's served various purposes: mausoleum, fortress, prison, and papal residence. There's also an old city wall with a walkway that runs from the castle all the way to the Vatican (seen again in Angels & Demons). But the best part was the view of the city. From the roof, you had a clear view of St. Peter's, the Tiber River, and the various buildings in the old city center. It was wonderful to see it all again from above. [easy_panorama id="1051"]