Very early on Tuesday 5 March twenty children, from Years 6, 7 and 8, flew to Rome. The bus trip from the airport provided our first glimpse of the glorious sights to come. Our first visit was to the Baths of Diocletian, originally the second largest bath complex in the ancient world and now an impressive marble-clad church. It was amazing to see the huge dimensions of the building and imagine 3,000 Romans at leisure, enjoying their beautiful surroundings. After dropping our rucksacks off at the hotel, we made our way past Trajans column, admiring its intricately carved friezes and on to a quick pizza and ice cream lunch. We then explored Trajans Market, which is remarkably well-preserved and provided an excellent view of the Forum. Other highlights of our first day included the Piazza Navona and its beautiful fountains, the famous Trevi Fountain and the magnificent Pantheon, whose fabulous dome transfixed us all. The children were amazed to realise that the Romans were sufficiently skilled to build this, the worlds largest unsupported concrete dome. We were also lucky enough to pay a quick visit to Vatican City, to see St Peters Basilica. However, equally enjoyable for the children, was a ride on a carousel along the way! At the end of the day, we were all pleased to rest our weary legs and fuel ourselves with some pasta.
The second day began with a quick walk to the Colosseum, which we all agreed was much bigger and more impressive than we could have imagined. A sunny walk through the Forum followed, admiring the traces of temples and the impressive triumphal arch of Septimius. Our final visit of the day was to Ostia Antica, the ancient port of Rome. After a relaxing lunch, we explored the large site, particularly admiring the mosaics and the large theatre, whose acoustics some enjoyed testing! We had an amazing two days, saw all the major sites of Rome and managed to sample rather a lot of ice-cream!
