The Colosseum Challenge

Sunday, March 20, 2011 (Part 1)

Call us crazy, but on this trip, we were trying to see a good portion of Rome in just two days. It was a challenge, but we managed to accomplish a great deal.

On our second day in Rome, we planned to tackle the ancient ruins, starting with the Colosseum. We were foiled a bit at the start of our day. We were planning to take a taxi to the Colosseum and work our way back to the Hotel on foot . . . until we learned that there were no taxis working in the city today because the Rome Marathon was being run. This Marathon is the equivalent of the Boston or New York Marathon. It is a big deal, and the city was overrun with people here to participate or spectate.

Well the absence of taxis was not a great thing for us. Dad is the ultimate trooper, but he likes to avoid excessive walking where possible. Today, however, there were to be no options. But he didn't want to be left behind, and so he announced that he was joining us anyway and we proceeding to walk down the long Via Del Corso through the Piazza Colonnia towards the Victor Emmanuel Monument, which sits just west of the Roman Forum ruins.

As we got closer to the Piazza that sits in front of the Victor Emmanuel Monument, we started to run into large crowds and barricades. The barricades became our biggest obstacle -- although the crowds were no fun either. It became very difficult to find an opening that allowed us to cross the street -- which was necessary in order to enter the Roman Forum.

We did finally manage it and started to walk along Trajan's Forum and Trajan's Market (see photo below), but then we found that we needed to be on the other side of another street if we wanted to get to the Colosseum. But there was NO WAY to

cross. The barricades were impenetrable. There was no opening for pedestrians -- none -- nowhere. Ugh. We kept walking along the barricades, looking for an opening. We kept thinking -- and saying to each other -- there must be an opening soon. But there wasn't.

Boy were we stuck. We ended up walking ALL AROUND the Colosseum before we found a place to cross the street and enter the Colosseum grounds. As we painfully discovered, the marathon route was immediately next to and around the Colosseum, and that's why there was no place to cross. We probably lost an hour or more making this tortured journey just to get to the entrance of the Colosseum.

What a frustrating way to start the day. Although I must say that it was an absolutely gorgeous day in Rome. So at least the weather was cooperating.