Rome: Day 4

A block away from the hotel:

Aaron, 'Did you bring the map?'

Vans, 'I brought three.'

I am my stepfather's daughter. To be fair, by the end of the day the map we were using the most fell apart after getting wet, so it's a good thing I am so prepared. Today was the Roman Forum! Old stuff crumbling around everywhere, it was fantastic! Aaron just had to see the Circus Maximus, but there is not much left. We made our way to two museums today, neither of which you would expect.

The first was a exhibit in the Complesso del Vittoriano-Roma called Picasso: 1917-1937. As an art historian, I had yet to spend much time with Picasso. Of course I have studied him briefly, seen pictures of Guernica, saw a few of his cubism/blue works in Chicago Art Institute, but this exhibit was...amazing. I've never seen so much of his work. I think I could study just Picasso and be happy. Really amazing stuff. Words cannot describe. They had three of his sketch books set up so you could view every page digitally. His colors are so balanced and his lines are so purposeful. I want more.

The second exhibit was one we found on a road between the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain. It's called Leonardo D'Infinito. It was a hands on exhibit of Leonardo DaVinci's inventions from his sketches. Really nice wooden recreations, and blessedly in English explanations next to the Italian, which was unlike the Picasso exhibit. Lots of pulleys, mechanical wings, machine guns, and a 'tank'. Also a huge crossbow. It was really neat and fun.

Irony of the Day: I made Aaron carry around my umbrella, convinced it was going to rain. The sky stayed mostly clear, with scattered clouds. Warm air. We went back to the hotel before dinner and forgot to take the umbrella when we went out. A huge storm broke out during our dessert. We were soaked, but even with the rain we didn't freeze. Did I mention it's warm here? Leicester is going to be so cold.