RANDOM DUE

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=50 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="0ab0ce82egerdp.png"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=95 BGCOLOR="#CC99CC" TEXT="#080000" background="0aa265f1ezuady.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>Hynda and Nolan's  Rome and Other Adventures</B></FONT><B>  </B><B> </B><B>|   </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hynda and Nolans Rome and Other Adventu"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id424.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="ROME SPRING 2016"><U>ROME - SPRING 2016</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id457.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="RANDOM UNO"><U>RANDOM UNO</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id458.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="FOOD"><U>FOOD</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id459.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="BARCELONA"><U>BARCELONA</U></A>   |   <B>RANDOM DUE</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=385 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#FFFF33" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>RANDOM DUE</I></div> <bR> <div> <B>Heaven</B></div> <div>  The Queen use to go to the Roman Sports Club to swim. It was expensive to join but she got a month pass to swim. The sports club went bankrupt when someone stole some funds. They have now reopened as part of a European chain of clubs that is even more expensive. They have fancied up the inside but the Queen only swims so she got a monthly pass to swim while we are here.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="285f44b30.jpg" border=0 width="580" height="435" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>FOOTBALL REPORT</B></div> <div> Actually starting to use the European term for soccer now. Rome beat Naples yesterday in a Series A football game … 1-0 with a goal in the last 30 seconds. Important game with Naples in second place and Rome in third. Watched it at a lunch stop for awhile. Did not see the end. One of our Italian friends was at the game. Just before the final seconds he was on the phone with a friend lamenting the fact that he had paid 100 Euros and there was no scoring. He missed the goal while he was talking. </div> <div> <B>ROME MARATHON</B></div> <div> The Rome Marathon recently took place. I hoped to see one Roman friend who normally runs I but did not see him. In a later email he sent to me he said I guess I did not stay until it was dark. </div> <div> <IMG SRC="286144b30.jpg" border=0 width="580" height="435" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> I went to the Spanish Steps to watch. It was fairly crowded there but it is normally crowded as it is one of the must see stops for the `Let's Do Rome in Two Days Crowd'. </div> <div> <IMG SRC="286b44b30.jpg" border=0 width="580" height="435" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> The front runner is no surprise - it was an African. You can see he had no one close to him. </div> <div> <IMG SRC="286344b30.jpg" border=0 width="580" height="435" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> After he passed, the police decided to let people cross before the next runner came. I was at the 40 KM mark so the race was almost over (42 KM) and the lead runners at this point were far apart. The only problem was lots of people were not there for the Marathon and they wanted to cross so there was a huge traffic jam of people going from a large plaza on the right to a small sidewalk on the left. They just managed to get everyone off the sidewalk before the next runner came. </div> <div> <IMG SRC="286544b30.jpg" border=0 width="580" height="435" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> At this point someone decided that they needed to build a caged island in the middle so the people could go half way and be locked up and then the runners could go on the open side. They would fill the cage by people flowing on one side and the runners would have a narrow lane to run through and then reverse and the runners would run on the other side and they emptied the cage. It actually worked well until the bulk of the runners came later and there was no room for them to get through comfortably in the narrow road.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="286744b30.jpg" border=0 width="580" height="435" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> The runners go through Piazza Popolo. As you can see it was a great day to run. Temps were a little on the warm side.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="286944b30.jpg" border=0 width="580" height="435" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>CITA DELLA AQUA ARCHEOLOGICAL SITE</B></div> <div> Very close to the Trevi fountain we found an archaeological site that we did not know about. It is located under a movie theater. </div> <div> <IMG SRC="286d44b30.jpg" border=0 width="580" height="435" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> What they found when they excavated under the movie theater was a very large home which was probably owned by a very rich Roman in the 5<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> century. It had multiple floors and arches between rooms with the evidence of the aqueduct that feeds the Trevi fountain. </div> <div> <IMG SRC="286f44b30.jpg" border=0 width="580" height="435" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="287344050.jpg" border=0 width="580" height="773" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> In one room they found a hoard of coins from that period. They deduced from this a number of things. The coins were nummus coins which were of the lowest value. (The gold solidus coins of the time were worth 7000 times the value of these coins.) Since the coins were found in the service area of the house it was assumed they were owned by the slaves of the owner. There was evidence of a fire. It was assumed that this happened in 455 when the Vandals sacked Rome and the residents left hurriedly and left behind the coins.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="287144b30.jpg" border=0 width="580" height="435" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div>  </div> <div> <B>CIRCUS MAXIMUS</B></div> <div> The last time we walked by here they had started to excavate at one end of the complex. There is virtually nothing left of any of the structure of Circus Maximus - the old chariot racing stadium. It was almost ½ mile long and could seat 150,000 spectators. This is a photo of what they have reconstructed. </div> <div> <IMG SRC="287544b30.jpg" border=0 width="580" height="435" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>CARAVAGGIO EXPERIENCE AND BOTERO EXHIBIT</B></div> <div> The Palazzo della Esposizioni had two interesting exhibits. The first one was called Living Caravaggio. There were several rooms where you went in and projected on each wall was one of the Caravaggio paintings but in different sizes highlighting the same location on the painting. </div> <div> <IMG SRC="287944460.jpg" border=0 width="580" height="326" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> In this photo you can see on the far wall part of the painting displaying Christ's head and the right wall has the head larger. On the other walls were the same part of the painting but larger or smaller versions. This way you could examine the incredible precise painting that he did. The only problem was that the images were constantly changing so it was hard to focus before it changed. </div> <div> <IMG SRC="287744460.jpg" border=0 width="580" height="326" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> The other exhibit was by Botero - a Columbian artist who died the week we saw the exhibit. He paints fat people. The exhibit at the Palazzo was all Christ related. The photo is one example of about thirty or forty pieces all with very fat people including Christ. </div> <div> <IMG SRC="287b448f0.jpg" border=0 width="580" height="399" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>TINDER</B></div> <div> Both of our sons use the dating app Tinder. We found a few spots in Rome where there was an advertisement for Tinder. We thought it was only a US thing.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="287d44460.jpg" border=0 width="580" height="326" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>Friends</B></div> <div> Dinner with friends Beth and Stefano and their daughter Emma.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="287f44b30.jpg" border=0 width="580" height="435" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>Art</B></div> <div> Eggplant art… not.. Just a display in the supermarket.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="288144460.jpg" border=0 width="580" height="326" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>Sloppy Sam's</B></div> <div> Things in Rome do change. Sloppy Sam's, a favorite bar for young tourists, in the Campo area has closed.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="288344b30.jpg" border=0 width="580" height="435" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>Maxxi Art Museum</B></div> <div> We have been to the Maxxi Art Museum three times since it opened several years ago. As usual there were some interesting exhibits. The man that the Queen is talking to was a statute. There were several all around the museum and they looked very lifelike.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="288544b30.jpg" border=0 width="580" height="435" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> This was an interesting photo exhibit and this one shows an area of placecountry-regionTurkey where Oriental carpets are produced to sell. These carpets are put out in the sun to weather them so that they can be sold as old carpets.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="288744b30.jpg" border=0 width="580" height="435" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>Cemetery Visit</B></div> <div> We normally go to the cemetery outside of Rome where we take care of the grave of a Russian American family we know. </div> <div> <IMG SRC="288944b30.jpg" border=0 width="580" height="435" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> This year was the first time we got to visit the grave of Giancarlo Terracina, the merchant who had the store across from our apartment for the entire time we were in Rome. He was 84 years old and had survived the holocaust with his parents living in different parts of Rome.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="288b44b30.jpg" border=0 width="580" height="435" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>Via Margutta Art Walk</B></div> <div> In the spring there is an art show on Via Margutta. This is the street that Gary Grant lived on in Roman Holiday.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="288d44b30.jpg" border=0 width="580" height="435" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <IMG SRC="288f44b30.jpg" border=0 width="580" height="435" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>