January 7, 2026

January 7, 2026

While Aimee slept like a baby, I was restless all night. I think I am getting worse at beating jet lag. We were at breakfast when it opened. The selection was good, including lots of desserts. I love that Italian tradition.

The weather is looking better with no rain but cold. So we decided to walk the mile to the Colosseum. This Flavian Amphitheater got a new name after a “colossal” statue of Nero was moved here after he died.

We circled the stadium, bought a Roman Forum Super Pass and climbed the steep Palatine Hill, one of the legendary Seven Hills of Rome. With the rise of Augustus, most emperors chose to build their luxury house on the hilltop. This led to them being called “Palatial” or simply palaces. After two thousand years those grand buildings are just ruins. In some spots we can see the remnants of fine marble flooring and the outline of luxury fountains. The most interesting is the oval outline of a personal racetrack inside a courtyard.

Archeologists have been busy on the hill uncovering the layering of buildings. Astoundingly they have found intact walls from the original rooms of Emperor Augustus and his wife Livia. With our Super pass, we visit these sites with hardly anyone else. The walls are very reminiscent of what we saw in Pompei, but on a smaller scale. I can’t believe the colors are still bright after two thousand years.

After this highlight, we ran through the small and uninteresting Palatine Museum and then went to the southern edge to look down on the Circus Maximus, one of the largest sports stadiums ever built. My photo from forty years ago is nicer. Today the track is overgrown with trees obscuring the view. We crossed to the other side in the Farnese Garden. The establishment of this garden in the 1500’s probably saved the ruins we saw. Today it also has an outstanding view of the Roman Forum below.

We made our way down to this economic and political center of the old Rome via a series of ramps and stairs. At one time it must have been magnificent. In the intervening millennia, most of the stone was hauled off to build churches and the ever-flooding Tiber River covered it in a thick layer of mud. I pointed out an old Roman Temple to Aimee that was saved when it was converted into a church. The church door impressively shows how high the Forum was buried in muck.

Our first stop is the Ancient Church of St Mary, another super site. Built in the early Middle Ages this medieval “Sistine Chapel” was buried and preserved by a landslide off the Palatine. It contains some remarkably colorful frescoes. In its day, it must have been almost cartoonish in its display of paintings on every surface.

We did a slow circle of the elongated forum. Most buildings have only the barest of columns remaining. The two Triumphal Arches on each end are the best preserved. The Arch of Titus on the east commemorates the victory over Judea. Fascinatingly it has a carving of Roman soldiers carrying off the treasures of the Jewish Temple, including a clearly visible giant Menorah.

Despite the Italian aversion for signage, Aimee and I found the circuitous route that travels past the later Forums and under Mussolini’s grand Forum Boulevard to the Forum of Trajan. The highlight of this ruins is his Trajan’s Column. Instead of a triumphal arch he extolled his conquest of Dacia (now Romania) on a set of panels circling a tall column. It originally was painted, but the details (like a pontoon bridge over the Danube) are still very visible.

Aimee is getting hungry so decided to get away from the tourist crowd to find a more local food venue. We pass the impressive but modern Monument to Victor Emmanuel, first king of united Italy. It gives us a glimpse of what old Rome might have looked like.

We continue on to the old Jewish ghetto where we find a nice restaurant. Aimee and I share a seafood platter along with a side of Jewish Fried Artichoke, a Roman specialty.

Feeling refreshed, we make a quick tour around the many Roman ruins that litter this area, including the Portico of Octavia, the Temple of Portuna, and the unusual round Temple of Hercules Victor. We also cross the rain-swollen Tiber to see the outlet of the Cloaca Maxima, the sewer that drained the ancient (and marshy) Forum.

I have to laugh though when we passed an obscure relic we remembered from the 1953 film Roman Holiday we recently re-watched. Called the Mouth of Truth, it is a large stone medallion on the outside of an old church. Of all the famous sites we visited today, this is the one packed with tourists (mostly Asian) waiting in a long line to take a selfie. We pass.

We make our way back east climbing the Capitoline Hill reaching the Campidoglio at the crest. The centerpiece of this Michelangelo designed piazza is a cool bronze equestrian statue of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. It was only saved from recycling because it was thought for years to be Constantine who legalized Christianity. The piazza entrance has two giant statues of the Gemini twins, Castor and Pollux.

We head down the Via del Fori passing statues of Roman Emperors and east to the Basilica St Peter in Chains. Besides the relic of the metal chains that once held St Peter, it has the tomb of Pope Julius II. This tomb is graced by the large Michelangelo sculpture of Moses.

Back at the hotel, we rested for a while. Warmed up we explored two local churches. The first was St Mary of Victory. It has the magnificent Baroque sculpture Ecstasy of St Teresa in a side chapel. Bernini designed it to look theatrical. It has statues of people in side boxes observing the emotional death of St Teresa.

Our last stop before dark was the Baths of Diocletian. Using the ruins of this Roman structure Michelangelo designed the Basilica of St Mary of the Angels and Martyrs. It has a vast interior. There are swarms of Starlings swirling outside above Piazza Repubblica. Since we are so far north, it is dark when we get home.

January 5-6, 2026

January 5-6, 2026

The 21st century is now a quarter over. That is a signal we need to step up our travel game. Aimee has been wanting me to take her to Rome but I don’t relish the crush of tourists packing hotspots today. So we are choosing to go in the winter hoping the crowds are thinner. It seemed like a good idea when we made the reservations last summer. Now when it is time to leave warm and sunny Tucson for dreary cold Europe, we are second guessing our decision. The weather forecast is rain and cold EVERY day. Arrrgh!

Our driver picks us up well before dawn. Our first flight to Atlanta is thankfully on-time and uneventful. After a long layover we are back in the air for our overnight flight to Rome. Surprisingly we don’t have to show our passport to board the plane. Facial recognition is the new alternative. In Rome we quickly make it through customs and cross the street to the train station. Thirty minutes later the Leonardo Express pulls into Rome center. Once we crossed the Tiber River, we passed lots of ruins, including the pyramid tomb of Cestius, part of the old city wall, and the Temple of Minerva Medica. The modern city of Rome is built atop the ruins of the ancient city. In the basement of the Termini train station, we stopped at the McDonalds for coffee and drank it by a section of the original 4th century BC Servian city walls the station was built atop.

We walked to our nearby hotel but it was way too early to check-in. So after dropping our bags we set out to explore the area. It is not raining so we decide to take the Metro a few stops south to visit an old palace. Unfortunately we find it closed. The Italians are notorious for strikes and changing opening hours. We then walk the short distance to the Basilica San Giovanni in Laterano. This first Catholic church in Rome was built in 318AD on land donated by Emperor Constantine who legalized the religion. His statue is in the foyer. First we have to go through security as this is still considered Vatican land. Surprisingly the Mafia bombed this church in 1993 in retaliation to remarks by Pope John Paul II.

We start across the street at the Scala Santa or Holy Stairs. These were the stairs Jesus climbed to meet Pontius Pilate. Constantine’s mother brought them here from Jerusalem. Christian pilgrims climb these stairs on their knees while praying.

Visiting churches today was probably a mistake as today is the holiday of Epiphany and masses are being held frequently. We have to tiptoe around the interior of the Basilica. Remarkably the bronze doors to the church are enormous and were taken from the ancient Senate house of Rome.

In the square in front of the church is an enormous red granite Obelisk. These Egyptian monuments decorate much of Rome. This one is the tallest anywhere and used to decorate the spine of the Circus Maximus.

It has started raining again and doesn’t seem ready to stop. We walk nearby to the Porta San Giovanni to see a section of the later 3rd century AD Aurelian walls still standing. Rome was liberated from the Nazis in 1944 by Allied troops entering through this gate.

We then walk north to visit another ancient church called Santa Prassede. Because Mass is going on here also we have to wait in line for fifteen minutes. This church is richly decorated with some the oldest still surviving mosaic decorations. They remind us of the decor we saw in Ravenna several years ago.

Afterwards we cross the street to visit the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. This is another papal property and Mass is going on here too. We see the very plain tomb of the recently deceased Pope Francis.  All these early churches are in the Roman Basilica floor plan with a rectangular building lined with tall columns. The cross-shaped transept design would be adopted much later in the Middle Ages.

Tired of the rain we walk back to our hotel and check in. We then have a late lunch around the corner. Aimee and I both have pasta dishes. I am already thinking this is too much pasta. We sat next to an Irish couple that travels around the world to participate in Tango dancing of all things.

Since the rain won't stop we spend the next couple hours exploring the nearby National Museum of Rome inside Palazzo Massimo. It contains many of the old artifacts uncovered while building the modern city of Rome. The first section covers the ubiquitous statuary busts of Rome. They are amazingly realistic showing all the bald spots, wrinkles and crooked noses of normal people. This was how Romans remembered their Uncle Joe or Grandpa Tom.

One of the prize statues in the museum is the Resting Boxer. Bronze was easily recycled so it is exceedingly rare. This one was found deeply buried presumably for protection.

One marble sarcophagus is richly decorated with deep bas-relief sculpture. This is an art form that died during the Middle Ages. Interestingly the start of the Renaissance is dated to 1401 when Florence held a competition to decorate some doors with this same style of art.

The upper floor of this museum has many examples of mosaic floors and wall painting decorations discovered. Most resemble the walls and floors we saw in Pompeii although not nearly in as good condition. We even saw a wall decoration with niches from a Columbarium (Funerary urn cemetery).

The star though is an almost complete room from the Villa of Livia, wife of Emperor Augustus. It is a surreal garden scene fresco. This room is crowded with teenage students more interested in their phones.

Back at our hotel, we finished off the Peroni beer in the room’s mini-fridge and went to bed very early.