26 December 2000 – Rome
Wandered to the Villa Borghese, a rather large park containing such interesting things as the British School at Rome and the Galleria Nazionale d’ Arte Moderna. It being a sunny day, I didn’t much mind getting lost, and wandered past and around the Temple of Faustina with much amusement before finding the Viale delle Belle Arti, which leads – to a tourist’s eyes – to the Villa Giulia, home of the Museo Nazionale Etrusco, which – to extend the sentence further – was even open. I was a good child and saw the much-touted Chigi vase, with its early representation of hoplite armor. It was much smaller than I expected.