Giant Moon at the Colosseum, Red Toenails at Home

Giant Moon Glows through upper right arch in Rome's Colosseum. Photo by Trisha Thomas

Dear Blog Readers – I’ve had little time for blogging these days, but I wanted to share the above photo.

Last night I had to cover a night tour of Rome’s Colosseum.  The special tour for journalists just happened to coincide with the Giant Moon.  After we finished filming inside we walked out and I snapped the blackberry photo (above) of the moon as it appeared through one of the arches in the Colosseum.  The streetlight above me to the right diminishes the effect, the moon seemed like a giant light-bulb shining through the upper right arch.

Here’s the story I wrote for AP television if anyone is interested:

A giant yellow moon lit up the ancient arches of Rome’s Colosseum Saturday night.  Italy’s Ministry of Culture chose Saturday to launch its annual night tours of the Colosseum and the moon was cooperating.

The moon was appearing larger Saturday night than it has in 19 years.

Tourists made their way down the travertine stone corridors, once the route for gladiators heading into the ring, enjoying the silence and the dramatic lighting.

With is ancient arches and crumbling walls, the Colosseum is the most recognisable symbol of Rome.  Nearly five million tourists flock there every year to get a glimpse of where gladiators once fought to their death before rapid Rome crowds.

Giant Moon hovering above the Colosseum on Saturday, May 5. Photo by Trisha Thomas

Every day hundreds of people pass by the spot where Roman emperors could give the death sentence to a gladiator with a simple thumb’s down. The gladiators were usually slaves or prisoners of war.

During the Roman empire enormous spectacles were enacted in the colosseum including mock sea battles, gladiators fighting with wild animals–tigers, lions bears and crocodiles– and each other.  Guides explained to tourists on the night tour how special ramps and pulleys were used by thousands of workers below ground to move beasts, boats, and water in and out of the arena.

The construction of the Colosseum began under the Roman Emperor Vespasian in 72 AD and was completed by Emperor Titus in 80 AD.  It was built as an amphitheatre to hold tens of thousands of spectators.

The nighttime tours include a visit below ground to the cells where both gladiators and beasts were held before emerging into the arena for the fights.

Video-Journalist Annalisa Camilli waiting inside the Colosseum for the sunset to start filming story for AP Television. Photo by Trisha Thomas

Final Note for Blog Readers:

Many of you ask me to include the mothering behind-the-scenes details to my posts.  Perhpas my tales of a working mamma are more dramatic that the Giant Moon hovering of the Colosseum. So here goes.  Yesterday, before the Colosseum story I had to cover a protest march in Rome that started early afternoon.  I had spent the whole week organizing piles and piles of books to be given away since we are moving next month and a bookseller with a stand near our home was to come in the afternoon to see if he wanted any.  Just before I left my husband decided to go through my piles.  He ended up saying he wanted to keep at least 40 of them.  Among them a series of “Hardy Boys” mysteries that my son read about ten years ago and no one has touched since.  “Why the heck do we need to keep the Hardy Boys,” I demanded as I was heading out the door.  “For my grandsons!” Gustavo yelled back.  Great, I’ve got to keep the “Hardy Boys” hanging around on my bookshelves for the next 15 years hoping for a grandson!  Mamma Mia.

(Good thing I had to go to work, it is things like the fate of Hardy Boys books that can make or break a marriage.)

In general, Italians –who move much less over the course of a lifetime than Americans- believe in saving stuff.  My mother-in-law has saved all her children’s baby-clothing and gave it to me to use with my children. (I won’t reveal here the fate of that carefully preserved clothing).  My husband still has every book that he read in highschool (and pulled them all out of the boxes of those I was planning to give away yesterday).  My Italian colleagues and friends agree with this. I think they see me as wasteful American with a “use it and toss it” mentality. They may be right, but keeping everything does make moving complicated.

Needless to say, I was quite happy to end the book battle, desert my husband to handle the kids and go to work on a Saturday.  Caterina was at a birthday party at the beach (she didn’t listen to me about the sunscreen and fried her face, sigh.) Chiara was working on homework, and Nico had a costume party in the evening.  Gustavo had to cook dinner on his own.  He has a wonderful talent for using every single frying pan and sauce pan in the kitchen and leaving them there with tomato sauce stuck in one, pesto in another, fried meat in another, banana peels and cutlery scattered about (sigh).  At 11pm I was still editing in the office when Chiara called and said “Mom, when are you getting home, you promised me you were going to let me paint your toenails red!” I remember no such promise, and I was not familiar with my daughters ambitions to become a manicurist, but we managed to negotiate a morning red toenail session.

I arrived home at midnight to the piles of dirty pans all over the kitchen, the trash over-flowing.  As he headed out the door to go pick up Nico at the costume party at 1 am, Gustavo reminded me that I had to get up early to make the sandwich for Caterina’s Sunday scout trip and take her there by 7:30 am.

Good thing I am working on Sunday too!

Any guesses as to the state of the kitchen when I get home from work today?

 

9 thoughts on “Giant Moon at the Colosseum, Red Toenails at Home”

    1. Trisha Thomas

      If you send me your address I will send you a box full of Hardy Boy books!! (without telling my husband, obviously)

  1. Thanks for the good giggle about your family. It shows that families around the world are the same! I cringe when hubby decides he wants to cook and I will give him this… His food is yummy but he too uses every pot & pan in the house and then I want to run away from the kitchen! I had the same experience with my husband when we moved from Northern Ireland to Barbados what I put into boxes to go to the charity shop he would raid and sneakily put things into the packing boxes! There were days I thought I was going crazy! Just tell the Italians you are not a wasteful American but setting a great example for recycling!

    1. Trisha Thomas

      Trisha (nice name!) — thanks for your comment. Yes, I guess families are the same the world over, what a laugh about your husband and the stuff for the charity shop!

  2. Hi Trisha,

    I love your shot of the Colosseum. Wasn’t that a gorgeous moon? We all joked last night about bella luna, and how she night make us nuts. But I guess even we are too far gone to feel her effect! No changes here. It must be magnificent to be in the Colosseum at night. I remember the first time I was there – walking through and really getting a sense of the grandeur and just the sheer magnitude of the place. What a wonder. It has always struck me as the best and worst of the Roman Empire. They possessed the skill and knowledge to construct such a magnificent edifice, but the horror involved in obtaining the gold and booty to build it, and the barbarism of the goings on inside have always disturbed me. I have to remind myself to temporarily discard my modern day sensibilities.

    It’s a man thing about using every pot and pan whilst cooking. Bart does it too. Drives me nuts. About the book culling – I am ever so reluctant to say goodbye to books, but one can run out of space. Plain and simple. However, so often, whether it be CD”s or books, after I make the piles, I see many of the items back on the shelves. Bart so often will not part with them We ought to form a club! Thanks for another enlightening and very amusing post. P.S. How about a shot of your pedicure?

    1. Trisha Thomas

      Adri, it is always great to read your comments. Yes, the Colosseum is so amazing and fascinating. I need to study up on the Roman Empire, but I am so curious to know what it was like for women. I did a story last year on the Vestal Virgins — I will do a post on them some day– and I was so intrigued by their strange combination of power and submission. They would be buried to death if they dared to have sex, but were seen as above the law in other things.
      As far as husband’s and stuff is concerned, the books are just the beginning. You say Bart makes CDs and other things reappear, I am going to have to have a battle with my husband to get rid of all his old VHS tapes — our video recorder doesn’t even work anymore (although we still have that too.
      And finally, I did take a photo of my bright red toenails but then was too embarassed to stick it in the post.

  3. Mamma Mia – I love the way you still manage to write this with a sense of humour and I am sure a smile on your face. One wonders sometimes whether going to work is a blessing or a curse. For you a blessing I think, as you can look at it with perspective and always manage to make me laugh. It’s a very fine line between laughing hysterically and crying with frustration! Brava – very entertaining. Ciao Francesca x

    1. Trisha Thomas

      Thank you Francesca. In my case my work is definitely a blessing. It gets me out of the house always seeing and doing new and interesting things then when I go back home I can deal more easily with the stress. I also have wonderful colleagues who tease me about how hyped-up and stressed-out I am. They help me see life from different perspectives. And yes, I am a big believer in humour and as you say often waver from laughing hysterically to crying in frustration.

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