The new Ara Pacis museum is a bit controversial architecturally here in Rome, but it is awesome to be able to see the altar up close, rather than peer through grimy windows way above ones head as Lex has had to do in the past.
You can even walk right up to the altar inside the screen wall.
Is she Peace? Tellus? Venus? Or perhaps polysemous???
Now that's a garland! There is a nice display in the basement of the museum that lists all the different species of plants that appear on the exterior of the screen wall in the vegetal scrolls, but nothing on the garlands that we saw.
We were rooting for the little bird to make his escape!
There was an exhibit of art from the Villa Farnesina in the basement. We only managed one picture before we were warned off by the guard. No signs about no photos here and you can snap away upstairs. The best thing in this exhibit was a rotating gelato freezer.
We also took a stroll around the Mausoleum of Augustus, before heading across the Tevere for the first time.
It's kinda bright without sunglasses!
We also wandered past Hadrian's Mausoleum...
Arriving at St. Peter's mausoleum. It was crazy with tourists! The line to enter the basilica wrapped almost three quarters of the way around Bernini's portico, but it did move quite quickly. They even have security screening now, although we are skeptical about how carefully they look. Lex had a pocket knife which we just tossed in the backpack with the rest of our junk and it went right through the scanner without a second look, despite the signs every where prohibiting them.
Aud thinks they should have left the obelisks and other ancient stuff where it was. This one didn't travel too far form its original home in Caligula's circus.
Michelangelo's Pieta. Digital cameras are amazing things. They deal well with low light conditions and you can keep snappin' until you get the picture you like!
These reminded Aud of a manmade Arches National Park.
The dragon is part of Gregory's family crest, but it always seems a bit more ominous than that...
Aud kept waiting for the Swiss guard to smile.
For dinner we headed back across the Tiber to meet up with a couple of Lex's friends from grad school. We met in Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere, where we checked out the basilica and watched a guy create massive soap bubbles for the kids to chase. We had dinner at Trattoria de "Gli Amici." It was very good and is a place where people with disabilities work, assisted by volunteer "amici."
After dinner we strolled across the Ponte Sisto and down through Piazza Farnese, Campo de' Fiori, Piazza Navonna, past the Pantheon and to the Trevi Fountain. Rome at night is a completely different city from Rome during the day.
We tossed our coins into the Trevi to ensure our return to Rome in case we don't make it back before the trip ends.
Finally, we made it back home, more than ready for bed!
1 comment:
I actually love the new Ara Pacis museum, too. I've read a lot of the criticism of it, but I think it's super cool.
I'm glad that Aud has gotten to experience the good Roman Holiday stuff like the Spanish Steps. The Barcaccia fountain at the bottom may have been designed by THE Bernini's father.
Did you see Pasquino around the way from the Piazza Navona? It's the most famous of the "talking statues" of Rome. It makes for interesting story-telling. If you're not familiar with him, you should look into it.
I'm loving the blog. Thanks, y'all!
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