Day 8 - Trajan's Markets and the Forum

Today the plan was to see the Colosseum and the Roman Forum so we set off that way, stopping briefly at the fountain at Piazza della Repubblica.

As we neared the forum, we passed Trajan's Markets, a massive set of shops and offices created by the emperor (a bit like Cabot Circus, as I explained to the boys) and used for various purposes well into the 1500s.  It's culture week here, apparently, so entry was free and we decided to go in, thinking it would be a brief look round.

It actually turned into a full-on visit, with a museum to go round first, then a look round the market buildings.  Luke took charge with an audio guide for much of it, but lost interest towards the end and decided to watch some ants with Callum.

It turned out to be a pretty interesting visit and gave an idea of the scale of everything in that area - aside from the size of the markets themselves, there were column sections and scale models that showed how large the other buildings were and there were pieces from a statue of Augustus that were absolutely massive.

Me, being impressed by the markets

After that we took a break for lunch, and a break from culture in general, with a visit to Burger King for the boys.  I think we were all still keen to have something other than pasta and pizza, so it went down well.

Afterwards we headed over to the Colosseum but it was closed for the afternoon, apparently to do with Via Crucis.  Not sure why that would affect it today, but we'll head over in the morning tomorrow to go inside.  Tomorrow's the last day of free entry, so we'll leave the free sights until Monday.

Lucy and the boys outside the Colosseum

After that, I took the boys round the forum while Lucy had a rest, as she wasn't feeling great.  They both seemed to enjoy it and I tried to tell them some of the more interesting facts I was reading in my guide to give them more of a feel for the place.  Lucy and I had been before but I still managed to see a couple of new things this time.

The house of the Vestal Virgins had been closed to the public before but has now been opened up, and it was one of the best preserved parts of the forum, giving a real atmosphere of what I imagine it would have been like - not that I'd have been allowed in there at the time.  Apparently the punishment for any virgin not remaining one was to be buried alive!

Almost all of the forum buildings are now only represented by small fragments of what once stood there, but by walking around the whole area and reading about each one it still gives a good representation of  how important this area was and some of the magnificence that existed there.

Some of the forum's ruins

It'll be more Roman ruins on the menu tomorrow, with the Colosseum in the morning and then the Palatine, where all the emperors used to live.

Luke's joke of the day:
What do you call Harry Potter when he sneezes?

Harry Snotter!