Touring and Truffles
After exiting the Colosseum, Julianna, Baba, and I followed our guide down the street passed a few open excavation sites to the Roman Forum. This area of Rome was so full of archaeological sites that apparently every time they went to dig to lay a new foundation or to add another line of subway, they would find something else to dig up. It was interesting to me how deep the ancient buildings were below today’s ground level.
Inside the Forum was much the same, there were lots of hills to walk up and down to showcase the many layers of archeological digs. There were old monuments thousands of years old, and more recent structures from the medieval times. The grass was grown in around, and there were even spots with trees and flowers. I couldn’t imagine coming here in the heat of the summer sun; it was hot enough for me already.
Our tour ended on top the Palatine Hill, looking down below at Circo Massimo. Circo Massimo was the spot for entertainment back in the day, as well as the place to implement the death sentence on anyone who did wrong.
The area around the Colosseum and Forum seemed to be where anyone ever great or political wanted to build. This was the epicenter. The three of us had to make our afternoon walking tour at 3:30 which started at the Piazza di Spagna. We began our long walk over, passing the Foro di Augusto, Nerva, Cesare, Traiano, and the Piazza Venezia where we saw the Monumento a Vittorio Emmanuele II, across from where Mussolini gave famous speeches from. This building was extremely ostentatious; the local Romans seemed to loathe it.
After a fare bit of walking, we decided to save our feet for later and took a cab from there to Piazza di Spagna. Upon our arrival, boutiques like Chanel, Valentino, and Prada called our name. Our wallets turned us away. Hungry, we discovered this little lunch place, Tartufi and Friends (a truffle house), in this very rich and famous shopping district. We shared expensive bruschetta and mini pizzas and sipped on ice cold Cola until it was time to go.
