Museum Day

We slept in a bit, no need to rush, and since it is January 6 (Epiphany), it’s even more of a holiday than Sunday usually is. Our hotel had tons of special traditional sweets at breakfast, added to the overabundance of sweets they serve on normal days!

I was skeptical about these museums (the National Museum of Rome has two locations about 5 minutes apart from each other, one on each side of the train station), but I have changed my tune. The first had the best statuary that’s been found in Rome, some Greek, some Roman, and mosaics and frescoes from two huge villas excavated in the 1900s, one of them under the Termini train station!

After a couple of hours at the museum, we took a break in an old 19th century cafe where we got the Italian equivalent of sliders for lunch. Very tasty and a nice break from the pasta, pizza routine.

Then to the second musum, which is located inside what were the largest public baths (capacity for 3000 bathers, with a huge outdoor pool as well). It was really interesting, and we also got to walk around a cloister designed by Michaelangelo at age 86, when the pope converted part of the baths into a church, to recognize the 40,000 Christian slaves who built the baths.

With another hour or so of daylight, we hoofed it over to see the Colisseum in late afternoon, as opposed to early morning, light. Very nice both ways!!!Read more