Too many pots, the Grim Reaper... and the Spanish Steps

After the blistering rain and thunderstorms of last night, this morning was still pretty unsettled, though the forecast called for clearing this afternoon. We opted to hit a museum, and the one we chose was the Etruscan museum. These dudes were conquered by the Romans in about 300 BC, and were around in central Italy for about 400 years. They left behind little except pots -- lots of pots -- in their funeral tombs.

I'd like to show you a photo or two of the 250 billion pots that are housed in the museum. I'd like to show you photos of the museum itself, an interesting villa built in the 16th century for a Pope. I'd like to, but I can't, because no photos were allowed inside the gates.

You are richer for it.

After hiding from the rain in the museum, we wandered through Villa Borgese, the other (and more popular) major park in the city to the one we were in the other day. There are luxuriant green spaces...

Semi-manicured hedges 

Endless roads without cars 

More endless roads without cars

...there are ponds with ducks and turtles...

Gentle streams 

Turtle 

Duck 

You wonder if he knows he looks like that 

Drooling turtles

...and there are statues.

To a Russian poet... 

Looks good from behind 

Front's not too bad 

She nekkid!! 

Somewhat Greek influenced

The park has as one of its edges really nice views of the city.

The Typewriter 

St. Peters 

Reminds me of the US Capitol Building 

Lush greenery

And of course, the Villa's grounds are at the top of that greatest of tourist traps, the Spanish Steps (which were built by the French, connect a French church to the rest of the city, and designed by two Italian architects)**.

We found the hoards 

Swarming the fountain 

Bernini's beauty, finished in 1627 

More like the Spanish Sitting Area 

Even the Grim Reaper was here. Talk about popular 

Details of Bernini's work

This is the high end clothing district. There's Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, and a whole lot of others. Window shopping is interesting

Handy if you forget your lipstick

Alas, we were out of time, so headed home.

Tomorrow, Tivoli. I swear this time.

**They're called the Spanish Steps because they're right next to the Spanish Embassy.