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The Ara Pacis. One of my favourite monuments. Its a huge carved marble piece of work, commissioned by Augustus and was to represent peace-something Rome did not have a lot of until then. The work that went into the detailed carvings is extraordinary. It us housed in a very modern museum (of germanic design-think stark, light and functional). The light and whiteness highlight the beauty of the ara pacis, but does little for the atmosphere.
We also went to one of the four Riman National museums which houses an extensive collection of Roman art and impressive ceiling paintings. The building appears to be of Roman origins as in places you can see parts of wall frescos and columns. It is like each succesive owner came along and plastered over top - this has resulted in walls that are over a foot thick.
We visited the Jewish ghetto, museum and synagogue. The amount of silver and gold leaf in the synagogue was astounding. It was certainly interesting to see all Jewish history laid out in front of you from ancient to modern times, along with their customs.
We hit up Traverstere just across the Tiber afterwards ( firstly visiting the smallest inhabited island located on the Tiber (called Tiber Island). Blink and you would have walked across it).
We had an early dinner then wandered back towards Circo Massimo to find a Metro stop. Circo massimo is now little more than a running track although there are some excavations occuring at one end which may result in some restorations. Found a cute bar nearby though (called 0.75).
Early night as we had the Vatican to see tomorrow.
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