Today was busy one, starting with a 9 am visit to the market at Piazza Vittorio, a place which oddly enough reminded me of home more than anywhere we have been so far on this trip - the neighborhood is home to a large immigrant population, and the diversity amongst the various vendors, both of ethnicity and of products being sold, recalled to me a visit to Pike Place Market or the international district in my hometown.

After the market, a few of us stopped by the McDonalds by the Pantheon for a little dose of comfort food (in my case, a Crispy McBacon and a Big Mac). The afternoon was devoted to exploration of the collection of the Musei Capitolini - in a quiet museum environment (and especially in such particularly historic and beautiful buildings as those used to house the museum's collection), I found the volume of ancient art more manageable. I felt as though I had some time and space to step back and simply contemplate the artwork. While we saw countless amazing things in the museum (including a stunning view of the Roman forum from an ancient balcony), for some reason my attention was captured to a degree that I found (and still find) truly astounding by a small and rather unassuming marble statue from the Early Hellenistic age, that was simply labeled 'Statue of a Woman with Peplos.' The statue was the first in a row in a dimly lit long room along the wall to the left of the door, almost seeming to be stuck away in a corner. The right side of the room opened onto a large well-lit space housing far more "glorious" and famous Roman works, including the giant bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius on a horse and the foundations of the ancient Temple of Jupiter, but while the group moved down into this space, I lingered in front of the small white statue, and even returned at the end of our tour to look at it some more. The rendering of the face in particular struck me, and I still feel it may have been the best (or at least my favorite) statue that I have ever had the privilege to see. It might sound like overstatement, but I was almost reluctant to leave it. The photographs somehow just don't do it justice.

From the Museum, we proceeded on to the Castel Sant'Angelo, which after Brandon's presentation on its history unfortunately turned out to have just closed. The real highlight of this expedition, however, was a stop off at the tiny and hidden away Gelateria del Teatro, where Lisa treated us each to a cone of what was undeniably the most delicious frozen concoction that has ever passed my lips. The store was tiny, and apparently they make all the gelato themselves in-store, creating delectable flavors such as chocolate-wine and sage-raspberry in addition to the more conventional standbys. 3 euros got you three flavors: I had mango, coconut and sage-raspberry, which was indescribably delicious. Perhaps the lesson for the day was that sometimes the best things are hidden away in corners.