Met my cousin Mel and her husband Gord. They were staying in the Jewish Ghetto area so we did a walk around looking at places that I’ve already posted photos about: Largo Argentina (the cat sanctuary), the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Santa Maria delle Pace and the Raphael frescoes and Campo dei Fiori.

We wandered some of the small side streets which had shops Mel looked into but (to Gord’s relief) did not buy anything.

I had booked a lunch reservation at Grappolo d’Oro as it is recommended for Roman dishes using seasonal local ingredients. It turned out there are two Grappolo d’Oro restaurants, Al Grappolo d’Oro and Hosteria Grappolo d’Oro. I picked the wrong one. They are not close to each other.

Luckily, we walked across the street to Ditirambo where we have enjoyed good meals in the past and we were able to get a table outside. Gord enjoyed the outside people watching which was extra busy because nearby roads were closed for the Rome marathon. We all enjoyed our pasta dishes.

After lunch we wandered around the Jewish Ghetto area.

I left them to go for their siesta while I walked to my reservation at Galleria Borghese which was almost an hour’s worth of walking.

Walked past Sant’Andrea delle Fratte, with the Borromini designed upper portion.

Up to Santa Trinità al Monte

Then through Parco Borghese

The Galleria had a special exhibition in the uccelleria, the bird house, which is the size of our house.

The exhibition is a film by Isaac Julien, called Metamorphosis. It is a film originally done for and about the frescoes at Palazzo Te in Mantua. It is about Ovid’s Metamorphosis and the relation we have to other species. The theme is appropriately connected to the story about Apollo and Diana in the Galleria Borghese.

The uccelleria had been recently restored so you can now see fragments of frescoes (which the birds housed inside could enjoy?)

I revisited my favourites:

The below had no explanation but it is a small version of the fresco in the Palazzo Farnese (where they won’t let you take photos):

Walking back I went past the building where we stayed in 2023.

My fitness app, which comes installed on iPhones and which I don’t think is very accurate, but nevertheless said I walked 14 km. My feet would agree.