After breakfast we headed off our separate ways. I walked down by the Tiber, past Circus Maximus, and on to the Palatine_Hill, where I spent a very pleasant morning pottering around through the different bits of buildings. A happy hunting ground for archaeologists, with so many layers upon layers of human habitation, with the added bonus of a written record that potentially illuminates parts of what they find. There are a number of active digs in progress, with people in hard hats with shovels and trowels earnestly burrowing away.
After I'd explored as much as I could find I headed over to the Coliseum, largely for the guilty pleasure of walking past the extraordinarily long queue as my Palatine Hill ticket is good for the Coliseum and the Forum as well. An impressive but depressing building, all that clever engineering to provide a venue for killing animals and humans for entertainment.
Today's picture is taken from the steps outside the Coliseum looking back along the Roman Road to the Arch of Titus, which celebrates his victory in Judea in 70 AD. The pic has the elements which seemed prominent today - the amazing vestiges of the Roman world, the touts waiting to prey on the unwary, the crowds and crowds of tourists, and even an archaeological dig on the left.
Anne had returned from her morning excursion when I got back, and we had lunch up on the terrace of delicious artichoke pizza slice from the shop round the corner. A quiet afternoon, next stage of the Giro (a bit dull after the dramas of yesterday) then off for dinner and a walk back round the fountains in Piazza Navona. We were worried that Rome might be as wearing as Florence but in fact it has turned out to be very relaxing. Yesterday in one of the little streets we had a fleeting encounter with a teenage girl who turned to her parents just as we passed and said, with a sort of wonder and enthusiasm, "I love this place". We know just what she meant.
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