The last day of our 'official' class part of the trip started with my (Luke) presentation at the Theater of Marcellus. The building itself isn't especially overwhelming (as far as Roman ruins go), as it now only a facade of a larger apartment complex. After my presentation, we then visited in fairly quick succession the Round Temple, the Temple of Apollo, and the Temple of Portunus, as well as the "Mouth of Truth" (a weird-looking face that is an ancient drain cover...it also has a legend associated with it: If you stick your hand in and tell a lie, your hand gets 'bitten' off). So some people waited in line to get their picture taken with their hand inside the "Mouth of Truth," but Allison and I decided to skip that part and just take a picture of the mouth with some random person's hand inside. Next we walked over to the Circus Maximus, walking along the inside of it, on our way to the Baths of Caracalla. They were very impressive and enormous--a bit more inspiring than the Baths of Diocletian we had kind of seen yesterday. I can't imagine what it would have been like to bathe in the third century in Rome! It was just a massive facility. Next, we took kind of a roundabout way first to a closed church that we were going to try visiting, and then to the Lateran Basilica. We ended up losing a part of our group on the way, but they found us at the Lateran eventually. We then walked through the Lateran, which was a very impressive building inside and out. The amount of history there is amazing. We then took our final meal together (a late lunch) and then each went our separate ways. Allison and I went back to the hotel for a quick nap before heading over to the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and the Piazza Navona just to see them all again. We had a nice dinner for two at a small place near the Pantheon before taking a nice evening walk past Trajan's column and forum, ending at the Colosseum, before retiring for the night.
...a few more Rome notes: There is an excessive amount of beeping in this city. People use their car horns at the slightest inconvenience, and it is actually rather annoying. Also, people here are generally more angry than people were in Athens...not sure why. Finally, there is a ridiculous amount of kissing in this city...not just the "hi, nice to see you" greeting kiss...more like the passionate "I'm leaving now and I'll never see you again" kind. Apparently the city just brings romance out."
Theater of Marcellus and Luke's presentation
More ancient sites around Rome, then the "Mouth of Truth"
Baths of Caracalla
Lateran Basilica
Rome at night
Hi Guys, Uncle Jim here. Spent a very frigid afternoon enjoying both your Christmas trip and your trip to Rome. What a wonderful experience. I would love to go to Holland, however, your pictures of Berchtesgaden were breathtaking, and of course I have always wanted to go to Vienna. Your trip to Rome brought back so many happy memories. You are so right, having eaten in Italy you are so very spoiled, the food is just so FRESH, and simply nothing can compare. It looks as though they are doing some repair work on the Four Rivers fountain in the Piazza Navonna. I just loved being there, especially at night. Keep blogging and I'll keep reading, your pictures as well as the narrative is just fantastic.
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