Caesar Day

The BBQ was a terrific hit and we even made the neighbors mad at us, although we did follow 'quiet hours' which start at 10 p.m. They even called Franco and he came to give us 'the look,' but to no avail. We couldn't find charcoal so we threatened to burn our handouts (we get about 6 pages per day), but then found the 'wood' pile. Luckily Charlie was an Eagle scout! So we grilled hot dogs, hamburgers and veggie burgers for the vegetarians, had salad and fruit and lots of beer and wine. Myles even stopped by, much to our surprise! Charlotte, the true patriot in the group, printed off a copy of the Declaration of Independence and we recited it, one by one, according to our numbers (we have numbers so that we can count off whenever we go to or leave from a site - I'm 26, the last one). It was a hoot and a good time was had by all. Today was Caesar Day. We went to the Theater of Pompey, the remains actually, which are under the restaurant Ristorante da Pancrazio that I MUST eat at, but that's where JC was assassinated. Then to the Forum to check out the Curia Julia (Caesar's Senate House), the Basilica Julia (Caesar's shopping mall), and the Temple to Divus Julius (a cult that started to honor him as a god after his assassination). The original altar is there and is constantly covered in flowers, like Elvis' grave ha ha. We also got a guided tour of an on-going excavation of a house in the Forum. The very old and wealthy aristocratic families had houses there dating back to the 7th century BC. The hoi polloi were watching us enviously as we walked around areas not open to the public, including the courtyard of the House of the Vestal Virgins. It was fun indeed. Unfortunately we do have an MM lecture at 6, then I think we're having turkey for dinner. Hope all is well there. Ciao!