Today we spent most of the day visiting the sites of ancient Rome. We came upon this site at the Largo Argentina by happenstance--we were going to a bank in the area for cash. It turns out to be the site where Julius Ceasar was assassinated.
The place was literally crawling with cats and there was an active cat rescue mission in the area. This guy took a bit of coaxing to look anywhere near the camera.
After lunch we headed toward the major sites of ancient Rome. This is a detail of Trajan's column that depicts his victory over the Dacians, modern Romania.
Here we are in the garden of the Vestal Virgins, which apparently was a pretty good gig for a Roman female, as you had these nice digs and were revered. Although if it was found out that you had lost your virginity, you would be buried alive.
I don't think this picture needs explanation, but one of the interesting things to note is that they used three different styles of columns at each level: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian from bottom to top.
Here we are inside the Colosseum, which we found out is technically is called the Vespasian Amphitheatre.
Dinner was at a small restaurant, Ditirambo, which is just off the Campo dei Fiori. We had a tuna tartare and a vegetable sformatino, which was like ratatouille with some creamy cheese. For pasta we had a tagliatini with tomato, shrimp, and asparagus; and this rice rice pudding with shellfish. For our main courses we had sea bass with olives and capers; and squid stuffed with shrimp and eggplant. We enjoyed a bottle of Prosecco to celebrate our 25th anniversary.
On the walk back to the hotel, we stopped at the Piazza Navona and enjoyed the view of Bernini's Fontana dei Quatrro Fiume with figures that represent the four major rivers known at that time. This figure represents the Nile.
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