Day four (whew!)

This is going to be a short blog, because we're both beat! (and have an early day ahead tomorrow) Today, we took the train in Ostica Antica, the port city for Rome. When Rome was declining, one sign of it was that the via Ostica (busiest road in Rome) had grass growing on it! At some point it was covered by silt, and in the early 1900's, the Italian government did a massive archaeologic dig. As a result, it's in excellent condition. The photo at left is the amphitheatre there.

This is one of the mosaics that was in the trade district. Each shop had a mosaic floor that signified what it sold or what service it provided, since there were so many foreigners there. St Augustine even stopped there, and his mother died there.

This is a perfectly preserved marble bar!

Looking out from the third story of one of the tenements (still in great shape).

Another bar! We looked over most of the city (which was considerable). It's worth it to see soon since it will probably disintegrate because the tourists are really inconsiderate. Nate thought he was going to be in a fight after a tourist was letting his kid climb on the walls and kick at the walls, and then I saw him spit on the building. I told him very clearly that he was disgusting, making sure I spoke slowly and clearly in case he was as dumb as I thought he might be. I suspect he did understand me because he looked surprised.

After the train ride home, we walked to the Campo di Fiori (pictured) for a drink, and to people watch. Then we had dinner at a trattoria, where the mom cooks what she feels like, and what is seasonal. You don't get to pick what you eat -she does. And you better not give Signora Paola a hard time, either. The food was pretty fun.

Then we walked (er, I staggered) over to the Piazza Navona, looked at the Bernini fountain, people watched some more, and then walked to the Trevi fountain (pictured). We hoofed it to the column of Marcus Aurelius (my hero!), then the Pantheon (stunning at night, as you can see), the Spanish Steps, then back to our hotel. The Vatican Museum is tomorrow!