Dateline – Rome, Italy
Today was a free day in Rome with minimal structure. This is my fourth trip over the years and therefore I have done most of the tourists sights over time so didn’t feel a particular need to repeat any of them After the usual hotel breakfast buffet (the pastries were good, the eggs were not), we headed out into another day of perfect walking/touring weather. Maybe a little cloudier than yesterday but still mainly in the low 70s with no humidity to speak of. Our first stop was to poke around the ruins of the baths of Diocletian as they are only a few blocks from the hotel. Then a few more blocks to the National Museum of Rome near the Piazza Republica where we spent some time with statuary, frescoes, and mosaics left over from Imperial Rome. A very good copy of the famous discus thrower statue and the garden frescoes from the house of Livia Augusta on the Palatine hill were among the highlights.
The next stop was down Via Nazionale and at the Forum Romanum. Last time I was here in May it was difficult to get anywhere due to many of the roads being blocked in preparation for the Italian national holiday. Today, a funny thing happened and many roads were blocked due to a major foot race through the city. Everywhere I turned there was a surly carabinieri officiously directing the crowd in some direction I did not wish to go. It may be October but tourist season is still going strong. Of the eight billion people on the planet, I believe fully two thirds were out for a Sunday stroll in down town Rome. I did fight the mob around the Fontana di Trevi in order to throw my coin ensuring a future visit but otherwise, I tried to stay out of high tourist areas.
The afternoon stop was a visit to the Palazzo Doria Pamphilij, a museum I had not yet encountered (and booking a visit in advance was helpful in securing a deal on the hotel). The Doria Pamphilij clan, Genoese in origin, came to the height of their powers in the 16th through 18th centuries and built an enormous baroque palazzo to show off their wealth and position. Famous members of the family included Andrea Doria (known to most of us for giving his name to an unfortunate ocean liner) and Pope Innocent X. The grand public rooms are given over to a remarkable collection of Italian paintings of the Renaissance and post-Renaissance period, some original, some copies. What isn’t covered in art is given to baroque excess. Down below the salons and ballrooms are what is known as the Secret Apartment. It’s not terribly secret as it faces one of the grand interior courtyards. It is a suite of much more human sized rooms which the family actually lived in rather than the drafty ornate public spaces upstairs. It was interesting to see the contrast. Then it was back to the hotel and dinner (herb chicken and mashed potatoes) before a walk to settle the stomach to the Quirinal hill and back with a stop for gelato. There is always room for gelato.
Tomorrow is a travel day. We have to get ourselves and our suitcases from central Rome to the cruise port at Cittavecchia by two pm. I think I am going to let Thomas figure that one out. As mentioned earlier, he has some Italian and can puzzle out the train schedules a good deal easier than I can. There hasn’t been much call for his archeological and evolutionary biology skills this trip. I first learned of them when he was visiting my place and picked the human skull that lives in my curio cabinet up and correctly identified its origins. We have been watching old episodes of Bones together and he offers a running commentary on what they get correct and what the writers are making up out of whole cloth for dramatic purposes. He’s sort of a real life Zack Addy (how about that Eric Millegan?)
I’m falling asleep after putting in nearly 30,000 steps today according to my pedometer so I’m going to end this entry here. More tomorrow.
