Originally posted on July 12, 2011 by Canicus
Whatever the problem was with the ATM yesterday, it seems to have resolved itself. If it had happened toward the end of the trip, I would have been less concerned. But I couldn’t imagine living in Italy for a couple of weeks with only 100 Euros.
Today I had planned to go to Ostia and the beaches, but then I realized that most everything in Italy seems to shut down on Mondays. I did go to see about setting up reservations for side trips. But “Customer Care” seems to consist of “Go to the other line.” There are a bunch of ticket windows fed by a huge queuing system. You know, that rat’s maze of fences that doubles back on itself numerous times. Except at Termini, the maze will not hold the whole line and it extends way out into the room. There doesn’t seem to be any “off time” in Rome. The Metro is full (according to the guide books) at rush hour. Rush hour seems to be 24/7.
Anyway, I ended up “attacking” the Palatine Hill. It was the “high rent district” where most of the important patrician families had their “town houses.” As impressive as the houses there were in the days of the Roman Republic, they were dwarfed by the later emperors. I did make it to the summit of the “hill.” But I didn’t go searching for Augustus Caesar’s house. Maybe later.
Today is my 74th birthday. As I ascended the hill, it occurred to me that Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus Augustus would have gone down to the Forum from the heights of the hill most days and then back up to his house when he was about my age. But then, in July he might have retreated to one of his country villas or to Capri. His house in Rome was rather modest (although the interiors were lavish and Livia had a more elaborate villa nearby). That was part of his “first citizen” propaganda. He wasn’t an Emperor or a King; he was the Princeps first citizen of the Republic. (Of course he was the son of the divine Caesar filius dei and Father of the Country Pater Patria.) He would mix with the crowds in the Forum, although he did wear a breastplate under his tunic.