9/8 Rome

The penultimate vacation day (Day 16) started off with hopping on some electric bikes and getting a 4 hour guided tour loop all around the highlights of Italy's capital. Our guide rode with us and he knew the ins and outs of the streets for the best views, least crowds, and was a walking encyclopedia of knowledge. The bike route gave us great views of The Colosseum and the Forums and he was quick to remind us Rome was a rich layer cake of history. Each ruler wanted to make his mark, so he'd build newer, bigger, better things right smack on top of the existing. Modern archeological finds continue to discover these layers as they peel back history.
The bike loop took us to the Pantheon. This former Roman temple started construction in the year 118. At 140 foot tall, the granite dome structure has stood for almost two thousand years of wars and natural disasters with no drop in human use. The dome itself is still the world's largest unreinforced dome, and still features The Oculus. This is a fancy way of saying a giant hole in the roof. This was intentional to have the sun cast its light upon the statues inside highlighting the signs of the Zodiac. With the hole up top, rain was to be expected and so the solid marble floor has a rather noticeable slope to help the moisture drain away. The eight main front support columns are 60 tons each in weight and were harvested from quarries in Egypt. The idea that they were placed there so long ago and still standing is a pretty amazing feat of engineering.
Perhaps dumbfounded by these building techniques of the ancient Romans, I assumed I'd set the kickstand, but I think it slipped into a cobblestone crevasse and the bike fell over. Because of this dropping motion the bike's electrical assist stopped working. I tried to desperately and covertly resetting things; no such luck. This was just in time for our tour guide to announce he was going to his favorite spot to look out across the ancient ruins. This meant ascending a couple steep hills. Just my luck! The very large battery pack of the bike was now just dead weight and I muscled the bike around Rome for the remainder of the ride only confessing to Simi of my issue after we were far clear of the bike shop.
The bike ride included passes to get into the Colosseum. This was portion of the trip was self guided. The clerk at the gate was sad to inform us that there was a special event that night and the gates for entry closed about 30 minutes prior. We instead used the passes to tour the Forum. The ticket allowed touching some of the ruins and being more immersed in the history. This open area is basically an active architectural dig site. The main path down to the lowest level made it easy to see the crust of the layer cake. Looking up it was easy to see the layers of construction stacked on in the centuries that followed.

The hot temps of the day on the bikes had us retreat to the hotel for an afternoon shower and refresh before going out to a place that was a Ferrari Formula 1 themed pizzeria. The decor had some very old memorabilia from decades ago, and the menu had pictures of Ferraris on it. What's not to love?

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