Take a Bath

Went to the Baths of Caracalla today with Auntie Leslie. We tend to call these trips "adventures" in an attempt to market them to the kids. I'm not sure we're successful. Anyway, 2 buses later we were at the baths. Glory be, there was virtually nobody there! And it's not like we get to these places first thing in the morning. I think we got to the baths today just before 11 a.m. We are not early tourists. The Baths are further south than the coliseum so they tend to be only on the back pages of most tour books. Anyway, these baths were HUGE with plenty of open space for the kids to run around. An ideal setting.

Despite my attempts to interest the kids in an 1800 year-old bath house, they were more interested in playing "cowboy (with guns)" on an OLD roman column that had fallen over centuries ago. Actually, they were really "cooking" various things and serving them up on the column. Like most of the fun things they've done (outside of gelato, perhaps) they really didn't have to be in Rome to do it.

Baths were spectacular and very, very big. You can still see some of the floor mosaics but all the art work is either lost forever of carted off to various museums around Italy and Europe. Given the sunny, not-too-hot day (it was perhaps 70F) this is one trip we may do again. The kids ate 5 oranges while Yvonne and I were touring the "inside" of the baths (don't worry, Leslie was watching them). Once we were all toured out, we did out typical late Roman lunch and ate at something like 1:45pm. Nice little restaurant recommended by the "Rome with Kids" book that is our traveling bible. Hadden had 2/3 of a pizza Margharita. We also had another healthy Roman treat - fried rice balls. Mmmm.

Baths of Caracalla. The Cauldarium was kind of in the center of this picture.

Rather than tour the baths, the kids play "cowboy-chef" on an old column.

"Kids, don't you want to see the amazing baths and mosaics?"

Back wall of the swimming pool. Statues were in all the niches. Water cascaded down from pipes just beneath each statue, there were giant columns where the vertical light brick is now. Pretty much a Roman adult water park here.

More mosaics from the walls.

Frigidarium at the baths. This is the place where the cold pools are (frigid). It's a huge room called a  basilica, (long rectangular room). Churches built basilicas because they were long and rectangular in shape.

Once done, then back on the 117 (another tiny electric bus), transfer to the 116 near Piazza Spagna and then home. A couple of observations on Roman buses:

• The 117 goes all day every day until midnight - except from 3pm to 7pm on Saturday...which is when we were there. Why? Not sure, but the reason was in Italian on the bus stop sign...I think. Just when we figured this out the 117 showed up at 3:07 pm. My guess is that it was the 2:54 pm .bus showing up late. Whatever. We're on. 
• The 116 bus whizzed past our stop despite the "stop requested" button being pressed. Not sure why, but the driver was strangely rocking out to some music in the cab. Got off on the other side of the river and walked back. Normally the 116 just circles back around...but not on Saturday. On Saturday, it goes on a different route. 
• There is ALWAYS the odd exception or rule in Rome. And it will bite you in the ass. For instance, it's illegal to turn on your heat before November 1st. 

Ciao ciao,

Steve