Worth mentioning last night's pizza ??? Dar Poeta in Trastavere. AWESOME! Happy birthday, Tez.

So today was our trip into ancient Rome, starting with the Colosseum. We were there early so went straight in and fired up Rick Steve's audio tour. Fantastic, hearing the history of the place as we walked around it ??? so much fun! Still sort of can't believe it.

Then things got tricky ??? finding an entrance to the forum. Some false leads provided by maps, Lonely Planet and Rick Steve (all maps being different), we finally made our way into the Forum in a spot we didn't expect to be. We walked up to Palatine Hill, unsure of whether it was separate to the rest of the forum or not, walking blindly with barely any signage and no guidance at all. Stumbled into the terrible Palatine Museum, looked at dreadfully labelled ruined homes. The only saving grace up there was discovering the Circus Maximus ??? the grounds where chariot races took place. Up there near where all the Emperors lived ??? pretty awesome.

When we finally found the Arch of Titus and once again fired up the Rick Steve Audio Tour, things got good again. We were transported to the Ancient Roman forum, the temples, the halls of justice and the senate floor. Marthese and I were so excited, having both recently read Rubicon (thanks, Jake!) which detailed the fall of the Roman Republic. It was amazing to be walking the same roads the ancient Romans walked on, entering the senate hall and viewing the ruins all around. It must've been remarkable in its heyday. In particular we were struck by how much Ancient Roman religion and architecture influenced Christianity ??? most Christian churches are modelled on Roman Basilicas, and monasteries and nunneries being modelled on the abodes of the Vestal Virgins. Incredible to see Constantine's arch, marking the moment when Christianity ceased to be a small Jewish movement and became an Empirical power.

After dropping Marthese off at the hotel for some rest, I powered on to the National Museum of Rome. Once again, dodgy maps and bad explanations had me wandering around the wrong sides of Termini Station, but I finally found it. Or at least I thought I did. Headed into the museum, saw some cool tombs and part of an old Roman bath. Followed some excellently detailed descriptions of old Roman texts, getting excited that it was all building to something. Nope. I ended up in a room with Chinese photography and then a courtyard with random ruins around it. Confused and having expected something much more impressive, I checked the guide on my phone to discover that there were in fact 4 museums called ???National Museum of Rome??? and at least two of them were near Termini Station. I was at the wrong museum!

Frustrated with myself and the general quality of Roman maps and signs, I stormed out of the museum and almost immediately spotted the correct one, Palazzo Massimo, down the road. Thankfully my ticket for the previous museum covered all the Museums of Rome.

Palazzo Massimo was awesome. Easily the best laid out and descriptive museum I've been to in Italy. Not as jaw-dropping as the Naples Museum, lacking the massive sculptures and artefacts, but it certainly had some incredible pieces, excellent lighting, and significantly, great descriptions of each exhibit providing context and detail. Hallelujah!

Stared at the busts of Roman Emperors, incredible ancient sculptures (often copies of even older Greek ones) and beautiful mosaics and wall paintings. A wonderful museum.

Overall, a day to marvel at the glories of Ancient Rome and reflect on the impact it had on today's world. Yep, that cheesy. But it was awesome.

Last note; there was another political display today, this one involving mostly African men. I don't know whats going on in Italy at the moment, but the people are taking it to the streets!!