Yesterday was a big day and Tom's first day of art-architecture-antiquity in Rome (since we'd spent the first weekend going to 1. the beach and 2. the flea market). First, we went on our own to the Terme de Caracalla, the remains of massive baths from the second century. I'm posting a movie here. It's not in the least bit fancy, but it will give you a sense of the enormous size of the structure -- some of the arches are 98 feet tall! There were huge soaking tubs and swimming pools, all the rooms decorated with mosiacs and statues. The statues were all plundered by the Farnese family in the 16th century and ended up in a museum in Naples (due to the marriage of a Farnese to a Bourbon king -- ah, Italian history...) but there are bits of the decorative mosaic on display at the site, along with complete floors. I'll get some photos up once the movie's done loading.
(I look extremely peeved at first... please ignore this bad behavior and concentrate on the antiquity surrounding me...)
We later joined our terrific new friends Eve and Nigel and their girls Olive and Hazel for a long walk around the ancient Appian Way and a descent into early Christian catacombs. Ben is planning to blog about the catacombs for his next entry. I can say that the Appian Way area is lovely -- open parkland of rolling golden hills, a few working farms, ruins here and there, lizards, paths, low mountains in the distance. We finally have the beautiful fall weather we were promised -- warm sun, cool breeze, lots of light. Phew!
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