Rome, The Eternal City

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Today I did put Rick Steves refers to as "Caesar Shuffle". After breakfast I went to Palatine hill and toured what remains of the vast palace complex built by successive emperors during Rome's prime. They certainly built on a large scale (see picture). I was glad to see the ruins up close after noticing them from afar on previous visits to the Eternal City. I stood on the concave-shaped palace remains that overlook Circus Maximus (See picture). I also went to a spot that had a good view over the Roman Forum (see picture). When I went to the Forum myself, I found it very crowded (see picture). It turned out that today was free entry for these sites because it is the first Sunday of the month. The crowds mad everything take longer, but eventually I was able to see everything that I wanted to see. That includes the Colosseum (see picture). I stopped for lunch about halfway through and had bruschetta and vegetable soup while dining al fresco at a restaurant near the Colosseum. I noticed on the map that I was quite near San Clemente Church. It is a 12th century church where the choir sang when we were all here a number of years ago, so I decided to stop in. The church enforces a "no photography" policy, so I can't show you pictures of the Byzantine-style mosaics or the early Renaissance frescoes.

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