Originally posted on July 14, 2011 by Canicus

Today went much better than yesterday. In the morning I visited Palazzo Massimo and Terme di Diocleziano. These are two of the four Roman National Museums. Massimo is given over to statuary, mosaics and frescos. In the basement there is a collection of Roman coins some going back when “money” was simply lumps of bronze. Diocleziano is mostly inscriptions and burial stones.

If you should go to Rome, it turns out that where I am is an ideal location. Termini is the main train station in Rome and both Metro lines meet at Termini. The two museums I visited today are within easy walking distance from Termini. I probably should have visited the two museums the first or second day. There is virtually no lines at the ticket booth, and the tickets sold there are good for seven days and include the Coliseum, Palatine Hill and the Forum so you avoid the lines at those locations. There are four other sites where you can use the tickets.

I may use the tickets to get into the Coliseum tomorrow. If I manage to get into town early I may attack the Palatine Hill again in hopes of locating the house of Caesar Augustus and maybe his wife’s larger house. (It’s not easy for a 74-year-old to climb and there are no elevators or escalators.) And then I’ll try to do the Capitoline Museums which are located at the opposite end of the Forum from the Coliseum.

I took over 250 pictures today, so it is going to take a while to sort through them to add to the photo journal.