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Sunday, March 23, 2008

A FUNNY HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM...

Back to the chronicle of Fannie's and Andrew's visit.

On their third day, Sunday, March 16, we decided to head out to see the Forum and the Colosseum. We are only ten minutes away from these sites by foot, but on this day it took us over an hour (no kidding!) to get there. We hadn't realized that the Rome Marathon would be passing by on the Via dei Fori Imperiali and that road would be almost completely blocked off.

We tried to go around by the way of the Colosseum but that was a dead end, so we ended up following part of the route, very slowly because of the crowds, until we were able to cross the street near the Column of Trajan.
Before we got there, we wandered past the Fori di Augusto and Nerva where we saw this interesting illustration of the perils of history and archaeology: these stairs go where?

Lots of runners had finished the race by then and were swathed in gold foil blankets - very festive looking even though many of the wearers seemed exhausted. Lots and lots of people were hanging out, picnicking, wandering around, and generally having a good time of it in spite of the somewhat blustery weather.

We even came across a couple playing mean didgeridoos - an incredible sound and unexpected here where we're much more likely to run across Peruvian flute players!




Before crossing over to the Forum, we also came across this doorway. The store inside sells products grown on the lands confiscated from the Mafia, celebrating the rule of law.





Another person in gold was one of the ubiquitous "Egyptian statues," this one being teased by a group of kids.


THE FORUM

It is Spring now so the flowers are all coming out. These very red poppies are so beautifully wild I couldn't resist a picture.











I like this shot of the blustery sky and
some typical, if not classic, Roman contrasts: the leafless trees with the tall palms peeking through them at all of us fools in the Forum.



Fannie and Andrew were good children of academics and studied the guide book carefully in the Forum.


One of my favorite sights in the Forum is the Umbilicus Urbis Romae (Rome's belly button).

I also always make it a point to visit Caesar's temple to see if flowers have been left there for him. So far there have always been flowers, but on this, the day after the Ides of March (the MMLII anniversary of his assassination), there were even more bouquets, along with a note for Caesar that you may be able to read if you click on the photo and can read Italian.

I'm glad this piece of cornice didn't fall on Fannie! It may have come from the Temple of Saturn above.








At the other end of the Forum, along the Via Sacra and past the home of the Vestal Virgins (in the pic at right with the statue of a Virgin on the side) is
another set of stairs to where?


Continuing on further, we came to the Arch of Titus. On the inside of the arch is a relief showing Titus and his army bringing in the spoils of war including this menorah taken from the Second Temple in Jerusalem.


THE PALATINE

We made our way past the Arch of Titus up the hill on to the Palatine, one of my favorite places in Rome.

I had hopes of being able to get into the newly opened House of Augustus, but it was already after 3:00 and others we met warned us that the line was longer than the time it would be open. So we wandered amongst the ruins of the Imperial palaces and the remains of the Farnese gardens until the onset of rain convinced us it was time to head home. The giant green tongue threatening to give Fannie a lick is actually a beautiful fern and moss fountain from the Farneses.

This is a shot of the Forum from the Palatine:

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