I'm working in Copenhagen for a couple of days. I've been hoping to get on a project here for ages as I love Scandanavia and haven't been to this part before. I got to the hotel around 5pm and headed straight out to explore the city. I really loved the Nyhavn area - picture perfect. It was a long walk from the hotel to the Little Mermaid, but well worth it. On the way back to the hotel I stumbled upon a Danish X-Factor street concert - lucky me ;-)
Our last bit of sightseeing (you will be glad to hear) was the Roman Forum - the centre of the Roman Republic/Empire. We definitely saved the best for last. The Forum is where the Roman senate and republic began, the site of the Sacred Fire of Vesta, numerous Temples, Arches and where Julius Caesar was cremated - the spot is still marked by fresh flowers.
Although we had been dying to look around the Colosseum all holiday we saved it until our last day. Being techie geeks we went for the video tour which was mainly a bunch of badly edited old English movies featuring gladiators. The architecture, however, was awe inspiring, including the sophisticated crowd control techniques – each ticket was allocated entry via a specific gate, identified by Roman numerals at the top of the arch (see photo).
Whilst wandering around Rome we stumbled upon Area Sacra, the result of an archaeological investigation which uncovered the remains of four Roman Temples and the Pompey Theatre. Most interesting of all is that Julius Caesar was killed on the steps of the Pompey Theatre - shown in the photo to the left. Strangely, the ruins are now used as a stray cat home and there are hundreds of the little fuzzy blighters running around.
The Castel Sant'Angelo started of as a mausoleum for Emperor Hadrian before it's conversion into a Papal fortress. Legend has it that Archangel Michael appeared on top of the mausoleum and sheathed his sword to signify the end of the plague. We weren't able to take photos inside the castle but we did manage to get some good ones from the top. The castle is huge and takes a good few hours to look around properly.
No trip to Rome is complete without seeing the Pope. At 12:00 thousands of us flocked to Saint Peter's Square to see Pope Benedict XVI. It was amazing how fast the crowd built up and then disappeared again. There was a rock 'n Roll moment when the Pope sent out greetings in a few languages and acknowledged the various cheers. After all the hard work of being blessed we needed to sit down for a bit and eat Italian ice cream - so we did.
We started off the day with a visit to the Fontanna dei Quattro, Quirinal Palace (home of the Italian President) and the Capuchin Crypt - a morbid display featuring the remains of some 4,000 Capuchin friars. Sufficiently depressed we moved on to the Spanish Steps so that we could see something a little more cheerful. It was here that John Keats lived and who can blame him.
Our last stop on this action packed day was the Fontanta di Trevi. We both threw coins into the fountain to be sure that we would return to Rome :) It was a miracle we managed to get the money into the fountain with all the people trying to take it off us for everything ranging from photos to flowers. We then headed to dinner at Ristorante Giglio where I couldn't resist the chocolate creme brulee. A Birthday to remember.
As we walked back to our hotel we stopped at various sights along the way including Ponte Sant' Angelo (beautiful bridge constructed by Emperor Hadrian), Campo de' Fiori (beautiful piazza where we were caught up in a women's rights demonstration complete with riot police), Chiesa Nuova (amazing church) and the Pantheon (Roman Temple to the Gods where Raphael is buried).
