Out there having fun in the burning scorching Roman sun

Oh, when the sun beats down
And burns the tar up on the roof
And your shoes get so hot
You wish your tired feet were fireproof...

You are in Rome... in the summer... doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city... today it got to 35°... the coolest of the days predicted for the week... you look at your map with all the visiting spots for the day circled in ink... knowing your energy will run out... well before all the circles get ticked.

All round people looking half dead... children in the prams holding melted ice creams... hard to tell the difference between the kid from the ice cream. You shuffle along at half pace... everything moves in slow motion... the decision occupying your mind is when to take another swig at your diminishing water bottle. Yes, we're out there having fun in the burning scorching Roman sun. 

The street merchants are having a good day... people ready to stop walking today to listen to the blurb... when normally they would push through... cold water bottles are running out... umbrellas are selling like hot cakes...  ice creams for the kiddies are a must. The living statues really earn their tips today... but they have awareness and select a shady spot... the beggars with awareness problems keep on their heavy coats... and stay in full sunlight. Roman Centurions work in relays... between standing at the postcard places and marching to the bottle cart. 

Today, we focussed our energies on the Colosseum... lots of shade... plenty of space to accommodate the large crowd. The remaining ruins are enough to give you a feel for what it could have been like on a carnival day in 313... did you know the Colosseum is celebrating its 1,700th anniversary??? you'd have that date in your diary. Imagine a day 1,700 years ago... another 35° day... plenty of time for the bricks to heat up... even down in the area below the arena... where the animals, gladiators... and perhaps a few Christians were in store. The Centurions would have been working in relays to make sure they had a good supply of fresh water... the street merchants would have been having a good day... straw hats would have been generating a brisk trade... but I suspect rose water would have popular as well. Imagine the smell wafting up from subterranean animal enclosures... ripe... over ripe. Imagine the BO wafting from the guy sitting next to you in the 70,000 audience. 

Today, we travelled on crowded buses and thanked the science of Mumm deodorants for keeping bus air breathable.