A little tour of Rome

A gorgeous Sunday morning, but no bikes yet. Heather's off hobknobbing with her fellow wizards in Greece. What's a man to do? Well, the pro cycling World Championship race is on TV, but nothing much happens in that until the last couple of hours. How about a walk around the Eternal City?

About twenty minutes walk down from the Janiculum Hill you can find yourself here at Teatro Marcello, a structure that actually predates the famous Flavian Amphitheater, but after a cleaning attempt gone very bad, somehow looks newer. From there........

...it's just 5 more minutes to here, the steps leading up to the Capitoline.

Once up there, you can admire a copy of the bronze Marco Aurelio (the real one's inside)

and be reminded of the mythical founders of Rome, the kids nursing on the female wolf.

From there it's back down to the Forum...

...where you're reminded you don't have a bike when you see this vast, car-less avenue.

Next, take a lap around the Flavian Amphitheater, also know as the Colosseum,

exiting to the south so you can pass an arch...

....or two.

Then swing by the Circus Maximus and again wish you had a bike, maybe one with fattish tires?

Then head back "home" to see cyclists riding along the Tevere and get jealous again.

But be glad you can take this steep shortcut back up the hill since you don't have a bike.

Then pause to admire, well...catch your breath....the Fontana Grande as home's just behind it.

Probably took 90 minutes for the whole thing. We'll plunge into the bike thing head-first starting next weekend with l'Eroica in Toscana followed by the Campagnolo Gran Fondo here in Rome the following weekend. We'll hope our residual cycling fitness will get us through, but the lack of sitting on a proper bike saddle for weeks might cause the most discomfort!!