Rapporto di Roma 13: Colosseo

So we continued through a short cut from the San Pietro in Vincoli down to the street leading to the Colosseum. We were walking of course, because there was a bus and metro strike scheduled for the morning. And, what do we run into? A teacher's strike! You may enlarge the above photo if you would like to see any of Rome's finest a bit better.

This was an impressive strike! They had a full band on a truck and the entire procession took a half an hour to pass. Sean got swept up with the excitement and joined in taking photos with the real news people. After waiting until the entire strike had passed, I figured out that he wasn't coming back. So I went ahead to the Colosseum unconcerned that we were separated. Because you see, he and I are in the same karass, and the universe will bring us back together at some point in time. It is inevitable. We met up a short time later. While a waited I took this photo of the Arch of Constantine, 315 AD.

Reunited, we used our Roma Card to avoid a group of students and head in. The last time I visited the Colosseum was in 1967. Of course it was a bit different then, we could go a level higher and it was filled with cats. The kitties are gone now.

As we walked around, I tried to remember that this structure is nearly 2,000 years old. So what is the difference between this structure and so many in the United States that are made of brick and mortar and don't last that well? We examined the brick here closely to figure that out.

Look at all of the arches. Sean took some close ups of these. The brick work is truly impressive!

We saw a student of Art History prise a piece of mortar out from in-between the bricks and say with excitement "Concrete! Two-thousand year old concrete!"

I was thinking, yeah, so put it back bitch. If everybody picked off their own little piece this thing wouldn't be standing here! Sean's comment was that it was really mortar, not concrete.

Look closely at this small area of bricks. Here we see some that have been repointed, some that need to be repointed and a nail. The nail does not look modern, in that it is not from this century. But what century is it from? The head was almost an inch [2 cms] in diameter and looked hammered. It also seemed to be iron, rather than steel. The repointing seemed a bit more modern. Maybe within the last decade or so. But who knows?

In the last photo is a place where the brick is wearing away over time. Just think, Italians are the people that brought brick work to the USA!

As it was 1:00 PM, the bus strike was over and we caught a bus back to the Hotel Barberini. The Roma Card pays the fare. I took my nap, and Sean went out.

When he came back, he told me that he had found some beads that were perfect for my mom and I could look at them tomorrow!

The most exciting episode is yet to come!