I spent the morning shopping for essentials in anticipation of Scott and Sidney’s arrival, namely, toilet paper and alcohol.

Their flight arrived late, the transfer took an hour and neither felt well when they finally got into the apartment.

I had booked tickets for Villa Medici which got us out of the apartment into the sun and fresh air for a walk to an exhibition at Villa Medici. The exhibition was Storie dei Petrie, or History of Rocks, which was an eclectic show using actual rocks which were treated as art, whether modified by humans or not, art featuring rocks in someway, like Guido Reni’s painting of David and Goliath who was killed by the rock thrown by David or documentary photos of fights in Northern Ireland where rocks were being thrown,

We wandered around the Spanish Steps, stopped for a cocktail, then when to Ara Paris, which I’ve seen but we have never went inside.

The museum houses an altar built to honour the first Roman emperor, Augustus built 13-9 BCE. It was built on the flood plains of the Tiber River and eventually was buried by debris brought in by the floods.

Parts were found in the 16th century and over succeeding years, more of the monument was found. It wasn’t until the 20th century that the pieces were recognized as Ara Pacis which Augustus referred to in his memoirs. Assembly began under a protective building in Mussolini’s era in an area near the Mausoleum of Augustus rather than the original site. In 2006 the building was replaced by one by architect Richard Meier.

Pieces are still missing and the museum has some parts on display which they are uncertain if or where they belong.

The museum also provides some history about Augustus’ family relations, which are confusing to say the least.

For dinner we went to Ad Hoc which describes itself as innovative Mediterranean cuisine.

Tonnarelli with black truffle

I haven’t eaten so much since I came here.

We took a taxi back to the apartment since going uphill was too much for the jet lagged.