My last day in Rome. I had originally planned to go out to Hadrian’s Villa for the day but after my relentless eight days of sightseeing it was time to take it a little easier. Besides I had to leave a few things for my next visit to Rome. So I walked across the Tiber […]
Category: Rome 2014
Three Thousand Years in Nine Days – Day Eight
Day Eight was a cloudy/rainy day. I started out early to get to my 9 am reservation at the Borghese Gallery. I had two hours in the museum and no photos were allowed. I was impressed by Bernini’s Baroque statues of classical myths – Daphne and Apollo, Aeneas, Anchises and Ascanius, Rape of Proserpina, and David. […]
Three Thousand Years in Nine Days – Day Seven
Another beautiful sunny spring day. Arriving in Ostia Antica from Rome I followed the crowd from the train to the ancient port of Rome. Though Ostia is away from the sea now, the River Tiber having silted up the port centuries ago, I could smell the salt in the air. The entrance of the archaeological site begins at the ancient road […]
Three Thousand Years in Nine Days – Day Six
Day Six began inauspiciously. I took the metro out to EUR to visit the Museo della Civilta Romana only to find it closed. It was a shame because this museum holds a model of ancient Rome that I wanted to see. Next time. Back into town to the Piramide metro stop. Just opposite this stop are two […]
Three Thousand Years in Nine Days – Day Five
For Day Five I made an online reservation at the Vatican Museums, a great way to avoid the long lineups. Better to spend 4 euros than wait hours in line. Day Five was a Wednesday and Pope Francis was giving a Papal Audience in St. Peter’s Square so I was swimming against the tide heading to the Museums instead of […]
Three Thousand Years in Nine Days – Day Four
Day 4 was spent visiting museums and a church. The Museum of the Imperial Fora was an expensive museum with very little in it. I hoped to see the interior of Trajan’s Market as part of it but this was closed. Next up was the National Museum of Rome and I found a few more things of […]
Three Thousand Years in Nine Days – Day Three
Another warm and sunny day in Rome. Perfect weather for roaming among the ruins. The Colosseum or Flavian Amphitheatre I remember the first time seeing the interior of the Colosseum and being disappointed, I think because I had already seen the amphitheatre in Nimes which is in better condition. Nothing much has changed, of course, but they did […]
Three Thousand Years in Nine Days – Day Two
A warm and sunny spring day is perfect for walking around the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill and the Capitoline Museums. The Roman Forum There are so many things to see in the Roman Forum. Big iconic structures with lots of known history, and little bits of marble with their stories untold. The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina dates from […]
Three Thousand Years in Nine Days
Three thousand years of Roman history in nine days? Well, I did my best. Someone I met traveling once said you must leave something to return to see someday. I have left a few stones unturned in Rome. But this post is about the stones I did turn over and here is some of what I […]
Roma – Mother of All Footprints
After more than thirty years since my last visit, I am returning to Roma (the mother foot?). Back then I knew so little about Roman history, but it was the sights I saw there that fuelled my desire to study ancient history. In those days of film and photo developing, you couldn’t be quite as shutter happy as […]