update: storage limit hit

I have just hit the 1Gb storage limit for photos on this blog, so History of the World Rome: Part 2 will commence shortly can be found at rakatz753.blogspot.com.

AAR CSS: Day 22

Long Weekend, Day 4

Last day of the long weekend. I had planned to go back to the zoo, but I found this:

...and then I realized they were serious when they said we were in the middle of a heat wave (high 90s F). So I saved that for another day and wandered down Via dei Fori Imperiali (this is a bronze? copy of the Augustus of Prima Porta in the Vatican):

And I saw a cool car on the way to the bus.

Dinner: Rigatoni alla Norma | Arista di maiale panata, fagioli corallo | Tiramisù ai frutti rossi

AAR CSS: Day 21

Florence, Day 3

Last big thing in Florence: La Specola, the zoological museum that apparently no one knows about (I saw a total of maybe ten people total in around three hours there, none American). I've put the pictures behind a cut for those of you who dislike taxidermy or who had (or still have) issues watching Bambi.

AAR CSS: Day 20

Florence, Day 2

Finally went to the Archaeological Museum (free! with tessera). Mainly went for this guy gal, actually (the Chimera of Arezzo):

Nice inscription on the arm:

Larth says hello (from a sarcophagus - it's actually the patronymic Larthal, read retrograde after the colon):

The Amazon sarcophagus:

The François Vase:

Watching the world go by:

From the other side:

Captain Jack Sparrow braved the pigeons and made off with some chow:

This little guy had fun doing an impression of the statue (Hercules and the Nemean Lion, as far as I could tell):

Gelato from Gelateria La Carraia in front of the Ponte alla Carraia. Still the only gelateria I've found with three flavors of chocolate (not counting things like cioccolato al rhum, tartufo, lallero, nutella, etc.). From top to bottom (the best way to eat it, since the flavors get lighter as you go): fondente (dark chocolate), cioccolato (milk chocolate), and mousse cioccolato.

Might not have seen the real thing, but trust Florence to have a copy in an art store:

Speaking of art, get a load of this sidewalk chalk:

AAR CSS: Day 19

Florence, Day 1

Bus 75 to Termini, then Eurostar to Florence. Checked into Arco Antico, a 6- or 7-room B&B less than 500m from Santa Maria Novella (the train station). At E50 a night, I got a private bathroom, air conditioning, and TV in my room - the Centro can't boast any of that, nor is its wireless nearly as fast. My room: http://www.arcoantico.net/images/rooms/_MG_1613.jpg

Headed to the Campanile...and reached the top 414(+) steps later (I lost count and had to backtrack a few times).

As a reward, I got a few more elongated pennies (Duomo & Campanile, Palazzo Vecchio, and Ponte Vecchio). Wandered around, found out that my favorite statue (Giambologna's Rape of the Sabine Women) has probably been moved to the Accademia, which I was not about to stand in line for on this trip (I've been before), and its replacement in the Loggia dei Lanzi is under conservation. Rats.

Found my favorite gelateria (Gelateria La Carraia, on the Oltrarno side of the Ponte alla Carraia) and saw the sunset from the next bridge over, Ponte Santa Trinità. There was a Swiss man playing hang, and a family of American tourists watching him.