On the way back from the colosseum we finally ran into some bad luck. Mary Lynn was pickpocketed (or at least lost her money belt) on the metro, or thereabouts. Kind of a bummer, but worked out OK as it was only credit cards and a drivers license. We reported it at the police station, then went to the American Embassy to call credit card companies. (Didn’t have to cancel mine, yay, and we still have access to our funds!)

Later that day we went to Borghese Park and rode electric motor assisted surreys and strolled around. Some pix…

A clip riding the surreys…

Here are some pix of Italian style (bike, shoes, street art), and municipal manifestations of SPQR (sigla del latino Senatus Populusque Romanus (Senatvs PopvlvsQve Romanvs), in italiano “Il Senato e il popolo romano”, racchiude in sé le figure che rappresentano il potere della Repubblica romana: il Senato e il popolo, cioè le due classi dei patrizi e dei plebei che erano a fondamento dello Stato romano. L’acronimo SPQR, nell’accezione fornita dal dizionario “IL” di Castiglioni-Mariotti, vuol dire “Senatus Populusque Quiritium Romanus“, cioè: “il Senato e il Popolo Romano dei Quiriti”; il quirite era infatti il cittadino dell’antica Roma che godeva dei pieni diritti civili, politici e anche militari.)

Study Questions:

1. How were the laws and the government of ancient Rome similar to those of the US?
2. How were the sports & entertainments of ancient Rome similar to or different from those of the US?
3. Relate a photo to research you’ve done.