We spent the day in antiquity, retracing our steps of last night, by returning to the Forum and Colosseum. The Forum audio tour is a thorough description of the major temples and the Senate building (Curia) , a good way to begin a discussion of the parallels of ancient Rome to Washington, D.C. The Curia, of course, is the most obvious. But Palatine Hill, next to the forum, invites its own comparisons to the White House and Embassy Row, and the Temple of Saturn, built for worship of the God of Prosperity, could be any number of buildings in official Washington, with the Treasury most immediately coming to mind.
Lunch was actually a sumptuous dinner at Osteria Nerone, a restaurant built atop the ruins of Nero's mansion. Our meal included antipasto misto, fried artichokes, canelloni al forno, spaghetti Bolognese, osso buco, and, of course, a bottle of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, which ought to be the official wine of Paesani Tussiani.
The post-lunch tour of the Colosseum had more than its share of irony: an elevator ride to the spot where we began another audio tour complete with descriptions of battles, gladiators and the social stratification of the seating. (Gee, sounds like American football to me.) Of course, we have a visual record of it all on our digital camera.
Lunch was actually a sumptuous dinner at Osteria Nerone, a restaurant built atop the ruins of Nero's mansion. Our meal included antipasto misto, fried artichokes, canelloni al forno, spaghetti Bolognese, osso buco, and, of course, a bottle of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, which ought to be the official wine of Paesani Tussiani.
The post-lunch tour of the Colosseum had more than its share of irony: an elevator ride to the spot where we began another audio tour complete with descriptions of battles, gladiators and the social stratification of the seating. (Gee, sounds like American football to me.) Of course, we have a visual record of it all on our digital camera.
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