He's waving hi:
We also went into the basement of the museum to see the remains of a few burials and a model of a hut:
In the Forum Romanum we saw the Sepolcretum (or rather the green tarp and fence surrounding the Sepolcretum), the early burial site for people living on the Palatine in the Iron Age. We also saw the (closed and locked) entryway to the Cloaca Maxima (Rome's Giant Sewer), which smells like it's still in use, though it isn't. We also went to the Velabrum, the little valley between the Palatine and the Capitoline where the waters of the Tiber can reach during a bad flood and which used to be marshland before the Romans got sick of it (perhaps literally) and filled it in with 11m of debris so they could build there.
Onto the Capitoline Museums, where we saw a few portraits at the exhibition on view; the Capitoline she-wolf (with Renaissance twins); and the Fasti Capitolini, lists of Roman magistrates and triumphatores. We hit up the cafe upstairs for lunch.
The Capitoline She-Wolf:
The Capitoline Topiary (new this trip!):
Afterwards, we went down the Vicus Iugarius to the Sant'Omobono area to see twin temples to Mater Matuta and Fortuna. Apparently Sant'Omobono is not a legit saint - Susann Lusnia suspects a connection between Omobono (uomo bono = "good man" in Italian) and Evander (eu aner = "good man" in Greek), a Greek who in Virgil's Aeneid inhabits a sort of proto-Rome and gives Aeneas and his son the grand tour when they came over from Troy.
Archaeologists in their native habitat (Sant'Omobono area - these are actually friendly specimens from Brown):
Also on this date: the gelateria Miami is discovered in nearby Piazza Cucchi ("cooky"). For E2 (2 euros) you can get a small cone (that's three different flavors) - plus you can get it "affogato nel cioccolato caldo" (dipped in heated chocolate) with whipped cream at no extra charge. Think Dairy Queen but better (and cheaper).
Dinner: Castellane con zucchini | Stracetti rughetta e parmigiano | Torta Caprese
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