Borghese Park and Dinner at the Forum Hotel

Borghese Park is near our hotel and contains among other things the Medici and Borghese Galleries. Forget the Medici. The current exhibit was something by Yoko Ono which is exactly what I expected – very weird. Not worth the stop.

        Snake Fountain at the Medici

                                                                                      Italian Guard Practice

The Borghese, on the other hand, was fantastic. It was full of Roman and Renaissance sculpture. More beautiful marble than I’ve ever seen in any one place. While sculpture seemed to be the main feature, it has many paintings. Rafael was the principal one I recognized. It is so popular and they restrict the number of tickets sold - it was sold out till next Wednesday. We got no-show tickets today, however.

Today and tomorrow are Italian holidays - Republic Day. So, there was lots going on in the park. We saw dressage competition plus some type of Italian guard practicing for the parade tomorrow.

Tonight, our last night in Rome, we plan to have a special dinner at the Forum Hotel Roof Garden, mentioned in one of Lauve’s favorite Nelson DeMille’s books, The Quest.

Mike