Day Two

I used jet lag to my advantage this morning. I awoke around 4:30 AM after my body restlessly continued to insist that it was day time, not night. Rather than fighting it, I decided to use this morning to go get some nice photographs of the Roman Forum at sunrise. I left the apartment just as the first merchants were beginning to set up shop in the Campo de Fiori. I walked for fifteen minutes in the early dawn light and my pace quickened as I approached my destination. I have been studying this place for about the last two months and have learned a great deal about it, but now to actually be here? In person? My heart was pounding with excitement! I spent the next hour at a vantage point near the old tabularium, from which one can see the entire forum, with the massive colosseum in the distance. It was breathtaking. I savored the moment for ten minutes or so before getting to work, just taking it all in, so as to remember it with my own senses, not just the sensors of my digital camera. Here are a couple photos of the Temple of Saturn and the great Roman Forum at sunrise!