I had a great trip to visit my friend in Italy! We went to lots of cool places. I started with a trip to the Vatican museum while he finished up work. There is definitely lots to see there! I had been before, but enjoyed revisiting. I rented an "electronic tour guide" and got to learn about the Egyptian collection, the Etruscan collection, the sculptures, the tapestries, and the Raphael Rooms. Very neat stuff. Most of it was "purchased" by various popes as they worked to assemble the Vatican collection. Being in Rome always reminds me of how little of history I know!Then we rented a car and went on several adventures outlying towns. We tried to go to the Tivoli gardens but it was too crowded! But we had a nice lunch in Tivoli anyway. We saw the Acropolis of Alatri and would have looked at the stars that its alignment is based on, except it was a little cloudy. It was very cool and the walls are very old - over 2400 yrs!
Saturday we drove in traffic with all of the other Romans to go to the beach. We went to the beach in Terracina which looks up at "Il tempio di giove" (The temple of Jupiter) which is shown in the picture. After having a nice picnic on the beach we drove up the mountain to visit the temple. It was very cool, although we didn't actually fully realize what we were looking at until the end. But then it all made sense!
We tried to avoid some traffic and drive home on the old Appian Way, however, the roads aren't exactly marked in any consistent way, so there was some adventure involved! We ended up in the Castelli Romani area and in the town of Frascati for a great dinner (and of course Frascati wine).
For my last day in town, we had a relaxed lunch and went to the Park of the Aqueducts to people watch. We had a great supper at the restaurant on the Appian Way where we ate for Thanksgiving. It was still very yummy! And we even had room for dessert!
So a quick but fun filled trip! I can't wait to go back! I'm not sure yet if I'll get to go next for work or vacation, but at least I know I'll be going for my birthday... and my birthday marathon in Florence!
Ciao!
~Lisa
