The last three weekends of travel have been amazing but it was so nice to close out week 6 back in Rome. I declared it exploration weekend for myself so that when the craziness of studio winding down next week doesn't hold me back from experiencing more of Rome. With Nicole as my main exploring buddy we started to get serious about checking things off the to do/see list.
On Saturday we did some sketching in Piazza del Popolo then went over to Trajan's market/ forum and into Santa Maria in Aracoeli. Both are very interesting and beautiful places. Later that night we headed over toward Castle Sant' Angelo for the fireworks show. We had a perfect spot and all the bread, wine, and cheese we could eat. Definitely my favorite fireworks show that I have ever seen.
Then on Sunday we went a little crazy and covered a significant portion of the city. We went over to the restaurant above Palazzo delle Esposizioni for the "affordable" brunch Jeffery mentioned on our last history tour with him. We got there too early but got to see the space. It worked out perfectly actually since we decided 30 euro was a little steep since part of the price is for the magnificent space and we got to see that for free. Then we moved on to Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri (Michelangelo's beautiful church set into the baths of Diocletian) and looked at the bath complex surrounding it. We then made a large loop that eventually sort of led back to Trastevere: Santa Maria Maggiore, San Giovanni in Laterno, then back tracked a bit to go for gelato at Palazzo dell Freddo (supposedly the oldest gelato factory in Italy), the Baths of Caracalla, then Monte Testaccio, and finally stumbled onto a large art installation bordering on architectural intervention trying to cut through to the river to get home. It made up for the lack luster Monte Testaccio. It was a large bamboo structure with integrated stairs, ramps, and seating that was constructed by tying the pieces together and attaching it to the two buildings it was constructed between.
Today was spent relaxing at the beach but Nicole and I definitely covered a lot of ground and made significant headway towards completing our lists.
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