Day 65: Price of Admission

I'm going to write this one fast. I meant to do it last night but got sidetracked and I need to stash my things and head out soon.

Since it was nice out when I got up yesterday I decided to go visit the Borghese gardens, galleria, and the surrounding park. The Galleria Borghese in particular is high on my list of things I want to see. I swung by the Trevi Fountain and Piazza del Popolo on my way there, and took my time walking through the park.

When I got to the gallerie I learned that you have to reserve a 2 hour time slot to see it, and they were sold out for the day - ugh. I reserved a ticket for the following day (which is now today - so I'll be trying again). Since I was already north of the city center I thought I'd go check out the MAXI gallery, which was considerably further down my list. It's a contemporary art gallery, and I've mentioned my distrust of modern art galleries, but it came very highly recommended by two Americans I met in Florence. Unfortunately beyond the architecture of the building itself I didn't enjoy much of the gallery, especially when the flowing design meant that an obnoxiously loud group of school kids could be heard yelling and screaming no matter where you went in it.

After striking out on my first two attempts I decided I may as well get one more ticket out of the way so I walked to the Musei Capitolini. It, at least, was better than I had expected and helped balance out the disappointment from the first two stops. It was largely sculpture, but with big sections on ancient writing and engraving and a decent collection of paintings.

Going focus on the Borghese area today, Vatican City tomorrow and then have a free day at the end to maybe check out some street art, go exploring and take care of a few maintenance things like getting a haircut and doing some laundry.