Saturday, October 14

Yesterday, the Vatican. Today, ancient Rome. We started with the Piazza Navona, a stadium originally built for Greek games but eventually filled in and now a large oval plaza with a Bernini Fountain, then made our way to the Pantheon, went out to the catacombs, and eventually made our way to the Forum. We walked through the Forum area, then around the Coliseum, had lunch, and went back to the hotel for my afternoon rest. This makes it sound like a short day, but it wasn’t! We left the hotel at 9 AM, and except for a few taxi rides, walked until 2 PM. It’s hard to describe all the ruins, so I’ll just post a few photos.

No photos were allowed in the catacombs. Our guide there was an older Italian nun, must have been at least in her seventies, but she bounced up and down all the stairs like she was in her twenties. We twisted our way through lots of turns, but she knew each little byway, and explained the burial system, and pointed out the artwork. We saw what she said was the first Madonna, and lots of other very early paintings, or remains of paintings, on the way. Fascinating, I’m very glad we took the time to go out there.

After a rest, time for our evening walk. This time we decided to go explore the Via Veneto, which, it turned out, starts from just a block from our hotel. We discovered that Rome is having its very first Film Festival this week, and today was opening night. There were parties all along the Via Veneto, including one at the top end with a large movie screen set up. Didn’t seen any stars, although several were supposed to be in town. Back down the hill, stop for our daily gelato, and call it a night.