By which I mean, there were no hijinks on our way to see the Roman Forum, farcical or otherwise. The excursion itself was quite enjoyable, though. One of the archaeologists here gave us a brief tour, starting off by saying, "I hate this site...!" I had to laugh at first - great tone to set, huh? But when she explained why, it made sense. She hates the bureaucracy of sites in Italy - they're badly run. For example, there is no information at the site itself for tourists; visitors must rely on explanations from professional guides. The site itself is a mess, and parts of it often closed off for one reason or another, etc, etc. (We could not see where the Senate had met, because the building was closed off). Still, she gave a fascinating lecture about how the site was used over time, and why some monuments were constructed the way they were, and how you (by which I mean, past-Romans) were meant to walk through them and experience them. It was a really spectacular lecture, actually. We thoroughly enjoyed it.
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| View of the Forum from the entrance to the site |
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| View of the Temple of Saturn |
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| Arch of Septimus Severus, built to commemorate a military victory |
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| Another view of the triumphal arch |
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