Roman Forum & the Palatine

Two days well spent wandering around the Forum & Palatine. It is difficult to describe how amazing these sites are. Every time we come to Rome we spend time vising Roman sites and never tire of them, there are so many incredible structures and fantastic museums and galleries.
  Photographs don't really do justice to the buildings etc because many are so huge that it is difficult to convey the scale and detail.
It was a beautiful weekend, there were heaps of tourists in the city but hardly any in the Forum or Palatine. I'm glad that there is now an entrance fee to the Forum, the money is needed to continue excavation and also for conservation work.

The view of the Colosseum from the Palatine is spectacular

Pines and junipers the typical trees of Rome.  Clear blue skies and pines- couldn't be more Roman

Parts of the Roman roads are still intact

The stadium in the Palatine

Frescoes in the house of Augustus -the richness of the colours is amazing

This excavation in the Palatine was started in 2009 and found a 16m diameter circular building which is thought to be the Caenatio Rotunda or Rotating Dining room described in Roman writings - can't wait to be able to see it.

Un po' di mangiare

Apart from all of the amazing things to see, Rome also has amazing food and we're trying lots :)

Last night we went to Taberna Recina -we went there a few times  with Jules three years ago.  It is an enoteca with a restaurant and both the chef and sommelier are brilliant at what they do -as well as being friendly. No photos of desserts -after a beautiful prosecco how was I supposed to remember to take a photo :)
http://www.tabernarecina.it/index.html

Gnocchi with sardines and pecorino

Tortiglione con carciofi e taleggio (artichoke & taleggio cheese)

Tonno

Abbacchio del forno (roast lamb)

Endive

Pepperoni

Roma

We're back in beautiful Rome and loving it.  The weather has been beautiful, our apartment is in a great location and it's all good. Rain is expected next week so we're saving most of our gallery stuff until then. Today we wandered around the centro, walked around the Tevere and over to Cola di Rienzo just window shopping and taking it all in.

Trajan's column

Roman "gladiators" are everywhere waiting to have teir photos taken with tourists.  This one was authentically dressed in a matching jumper with gold braid on the sleeves :)

Area Sacra di Largo Argentina.  Julius Caesar was killed here on 15 March 44BC

A lot of excavation  work is being done at Largo Argentina and many rooms under the road are packed with found items.  The Area Sacra is also home to many stray cats.  There is a cat sanctuary alongside the excavated site and heaps of cats wander through.  They have a pretty good life and are cared for by local people and volunteers from all over the world.

In the Ghetto

We had lunch in the old Jewish Ghetto -fantastic fried carciofi, Rob also had pasta with carciofi and fish and I had pasta e fagioli.  Rob said that his pasta was really good but I wasn't that fussed with mine -still waiting to have the perfect pasta fagioli.

A sottopassaggio in the ghetto

The weather was beautiful and we walked along the Tevere

There were heaps of ducks around the reeds along the edges of the river

Ponte S. Angelo with Castel Sant'Angelo in the background

Friday afternoon must be the time for rowing- there were rowers all along the river -some of them were really fast.

Castel Sant'Angelo

Best wishes and good luck to Georgie and Cesar for a perfect day for their wedding.

Arrivederci Milano

I forgot to mention that a few days ago I was bitten on the arm  by a big dog while we were walking along the footpath near our hotel I was lucky that it was very cold and that I was wearing lots of layers and had on a puffy coat so that the dog  didn't really hurt me. The dog's owner just said "scusi" and took off -didn't check to see if I was ok.   There are so many big dogs here, and lots of stand offs in the street between dogs as owner try to rein them in.  No sign of muzzles anymore.

The weather has been fairly cold but fine and  manageable and today it was warm -10C max -with a clear blue sky, the warmest it has been since we've been here.

These photos were taken from the top of the Duomo a few days ago -you can see how cold it was from Rob's clothes :)

Among other things, today we went to see and exhibition of Artemesia Gentileschi's work on loan from around the world.   I was so happy to have the chance to see it.  I've read quite a bit about her and have only ever seen one of her paintings before at the Uffizi in Firenze.  She was an artist in the 1600s and was recognized as an accomplished artist in her lifetime -she painted women as strong characters.  It was interesting to see an exhibition in which nearly all of the central subjects were women.

The curators didn't really go into great depth about the controversies in her life but let her work speak for her.  There was also an installation with audio about her rape trial  and a selection of her letters.  

http://www.mostrartemisia.it/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemisia_Gentileschi

In Milano even the police stand around looking stylish :)

Inside the Gallerie at night

We leave for Rome tomorrow -we'll be home in just over two weeks