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George & Audrey DeLange
August 1999.

According to legend, twin boys, Romulus and Remus, were born to the Vestal Virgin, Rhea Silvia and Mars, the god of war. Their grandfather's brother wrested control of the city where they were born, from the boy's grandfather, and, fearing the consequences of male heirs, he had them thrown in a trough into the river. The trough drifted to shore, where legend says, a she-wolf found the twin babies and suckled them until a shepherd adopted them and they grew into manhood. Years later, having taken back control of the city for their grandfather, Mars directed the boys to build a city of their own, and they chose the riverside site where the wolf had found them. Romulus decided to wall the city in, and Remus jeered at the idea, going so far as to leap over the wall. Romulus then killed him and went on to complete the building himself. Living on for many years after as a great leader, he vanished one night into a storm. The building of Rome started in about 753 BC, placing Rome on a major trade route, which made it one of the world's oldest cities. Ruled initially by seven kings, Rome eventually became a republic, ruled by a Senate, where Senators had specific duties. There were Dictators. Julius Caesar, who was Consul of the Senate from 49-44 BC, was rumoured to desire to become Emperor of Rome, therefore several of his Senators murdered him. Had he been born 20 years later, he would have had his way, as the political structure of Rome changed, and Augustus, the first Emperor, was installed in 27 BC as Emperor Of Rome. The Praetorian Guard was created, just to protect the Emperor. By the third century, the Roman Empire made up a good portion of the "civilized" world, and the city of Rome had about 2 million residents. Over the centuries Rome has never lost its position as a cultural center of Europe. We were there in August of 1999.

Getting to Rome, Italy: Rome has two airports - The Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport (Italian: Aeroporto Leonardo da Vinci di Fiumicino) (IATA: FCO, ICAO: LIRF), also commonly known as Fiumicino Airport, which is Italy's largest airport and the first international air gateway into Italy. It also has the Rome Ciampino Airport (Italian: Aeroporto di Roma-Ciampino or Giovan Battista Pastine Airport) (IATA: CIA, ICAO: LIRA) which is a joint civilian, commercial and military airport near Rome in Italy. The airport is situated 6.5 NM (12.0 km; 7.5 mi) south southeast of central Rome. The express train between Fiumicino Airport and Stazione Termini (Rome's main train station) costs � 9.50 and the journey takes about 30 minutes. The train departs from and arrives at Termini station at track n.27 and runs from 6.30am till 11.30pm. Ciampino Rome's smaller airport, is mostly used by charter flights and budget airlines. There are numerous flights into Rome and numerous hotels in Rome. There are several Guided Tour Agencies offering standard city, and historical tours of Rome and the surrounding area. After arranging your flight we would suggest getting your hotel and then letting them arrange tours of the area for you. If you call the hotels Concierge Services ahead of your arrival, all of this can be pre-arranged for you. We do this all the time. It is safe and it works!!! We have never experienced a problem doing it this way! We have links to priceline.com on our page so that you can arrange your flight and hotel in Rome.

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