The Travels of Eric and Lorna

 Travel tip. Peek into places while you are visiting tourist sites. I want to be clear. Do not trespass, disturb anything, or go anywhere you are no supposed to go. What I am talking about is, if you see a gated doorway, or a storage room with a window looking in, or something like that, go peek in and see what's inside. I sometimes take pictures like this, always being careful not to drop my phone. Sometimes you see something cool. Like these. This is the 'basement' of the main Temple of the Capitoline Triad (Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva) at Ostia Antica. Again, this picture was taken through the gap in the door by holding my phone up close. I never even touched the door. Those pipe looking things? Those are pipes, ancient Roman lead water pipes. I guess they store extras here. Pretty awesome.  Also, that's the basement of an ancient temple! That's cool. I bet it wasn't lead pipes stored here originally. This is also Ostia Antica. A display of epigraphs (i.e. ins...

 And a couple of the nearby Imperial Forum

 The last time we visited Rome, it was before the Roman Forum had been fenced off, and you could walk through it casually on the way to somewhere else in Rome. As stayed in Trastevere before, there were many opportunities to do this. So I was sad when I heard that they had fenced the Forum off. However, after seeing what they have done, I see that I was wrong. There have been many upgrades in terms of both access (more paths to places) displays (at least three new museums that weren't there previously) and maintenance (we saw people actively engaged in maintenance, and one small ongoing archaeological excavation. Seems like the money they are getting from limiting access was worth it. Respect to Italy, which seems to recognize the importance of historic sites.  One very cool thing we got to see was the Cryptoporticus, which was the Emperor's secret passageway down to the Roman Forum. Previously an entrance to this had been visible on the Palatine, but you couldn't go throug...

 Castel St. Angelo was originally Hadrian's Mausoleum, and was later at times a fortress, a prison, and some very fancy Papal apartments. There is a very cool passage from the Vatican to Castel St Angelo for the Pope to use in case he needs to flee to safety in the castle. The things that look like walls in the pictures below are this corridor, named Passetto di Borgo, and it is very cool. The castle is cool as well. Be sure to have a drink at the charming cafe on the top floor of Castel St. Angelo.