Rome’s New Sites and a Very Important Question
As you would have seen in the January newsletter, I used a recent holiday to Rome to propose to my partner Charlotte, and she said yes! I figured as I was going to be in my favourite city, with my favourite person, at her favourite time of year, there was no better time to do it.
All the sites we visited on the trip (with the exemption of the Panoramic Terrace at the top of the Vittoriano and the Pantheon) were ones I hadn’t seen before. I couldn’t have made it all possible without the help of Sabrina and Loredana, our local agents at Castelli Romani VIP, many of you who have been to Italy will know how helpful they are. They assisted with booking the sites, as well as reserving lunch spots and evening activities. We then went to visit them on the Sunday in the Alban Hills, being treated to a visit to Lanuvio and lunch in Nemi. I’ll circle back to the Sunday visits later.
I’d had Charlotte believing that we were only going to be in Rome Thursday night to Sunday morning, but as we were having Charlotte’s parents look after her son, the game got given away the week before we left while they were organising the details of the child-sitting. Charlotte was then aware that we were staying until Monday morning, though I did keep the plan for the Sunday secret until the Saturday night.
Having landed in Rome slightly ahead of schedule at about 19:50, we collected our luggage, and jumped on the Leonardo da Vinci Express from Fiumicino to Termini at 21:05 (I wasn’t sure if we’d make the 20:38, so we played it safe) we arrived in Termini around 21:40 which meant a quick (and very late) stop for dinner before heading to the Hotel Cross, our base for the 4 nights (and if you’ve been to Rome with Hellene, its likely to have been your base too). Having not been to Mercato Centrale before, I knew where I wanted to get my dinner. Making our way down the side of Termini and into the Mercato Centrale space, it is immediately apparent just how many options there are – 17 different food outlets with a central alcoholic bar, coffee bar, and a wine by the glass bar (see Fig.1).
Figure 1: Map of Mercato Centrale
After a quick walk through to peruse the options, I picked up a cacio e pepe supplì, filetti di baccalà, and a handful of mozzarelline from Il Fritto. A lot of fried food, but hey, I was on holiday. Now if we had more time, we could have sat down and grabbed a few drinks, but we decided to hop onto the Metro Line A and to get to Manzoni and the hotel. We were imagining that we’d be in a standard double room, but we’d been put in the Exclusive Room at the top of the Cross, with a fantastic balcony overlooking the Republican Tombs on the Via Statilia as well as glimpses of the Porta Maggiore and “Temple of Minerva Medica” in the distance.
Figure 2: The Clivus Victoriae as it enters the Domus Tiberiana
After a good night’s sleep and a strong continental breakfast, we headed to our first stop the Forum and Palatine Hill. Foregoing the Colosseum with a Super Forum Pass ticket, we headed straight to the Domus Tiberiana. While visitors have been able to look down on the excavated remains of the domus near the Orti Farnese, the newly opened section takes you under the belvedere on the Palatine (see Fig.2), this street, the Clivus Victoriae can be visited with a normal entry ticket, the rooms either side, full of various displays, can only be entered with the Forum Pass or similar Full Experience Ticket. To reach this area, just head up to where the fountain at the base of the Farnese Aviaries is, then head towards the Capitoline. You’ll know you’re in the right spot when you see the below on the floor:
Figure 3: The Domus Tiberiana entry
The display rooms of the Domus carry a variety of finds from the site, and from the Palatine as a whole. Such as these oil lamps, these were in the first room along with coins, amphorae and fragments of bowls. In total there were 96 lamps in this one display (Fig.4).
Figure 4: Oil lamps on display in the museum space of the Domus
There’s one room with a video detailing the excavation and conservation of the Domus, but it has these fantastic stucco frescoes high up in the background (Fig.5). The museum/gallery space in the domus even has the famous marble tiger fragment (Fig.6) from the Palatine Museum – no word on whether this a permanent move or just temporary. There were displays on the pre-domus part of the Palatine, busts and fragments of marble from various architectural pieces like columns, capitals etc.
The giant glass windows looking out over the Forum give some absolutely glorious views (Fig.7), if I worked at Parco Colosseo as a room attendant, I’d spend the whole day taking photos out the window. You exit the Domus Tiberiana onto the Ramp of Domitian, and there are plans to open the upper levels next year, though whether this happens we’ll have to wait and see.
Figure 5: The marble tiger on display that was in the Palatine Museum
Figure 6: The stucco wall within the Domus Tiberiana rooms.
Figure 7: The view from one of the large glass windows in the Domus, overlooking the Forum
Having exited the Forum via Santa Maria Antiqua and out on to the Foro Romano/Via della Consolazione road. Exiting here may be good for groups looking to visit the Velabrium or the Forum Boarium after their Forum and Palatine visit, but for the most part I’d still advise exiting next to the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina for easier access to the Monti area for food for lunch. As we climbed Via Monte Tarpeo to go up and over the Capitoline I nearly changed my plans and popped the question there as it is my favourite view in Rome, looking out over the Forum (Fig.8).
Figure 8: The view from Via Monte Tarpeo
But I kept us going to head down the Capitoline Steps and then round the corner to climb the steps of the Vittoriano. Now with the Panoramic lift at the Vittoriano, you still have to climb quite a few stairs before you reach the lift, which seems redundant, but with a few breaks to catch our breath, we got there. I had to try and find ways to encourage Charlotte to keep going without giving the game away. Once up there I let her walk around taking photos and videos of the views, before I dropped off behind her, got down on one knee and popped the question. We were lucky that there happened to be a professional photographer up there at the same time, and this meant we now have some photos of the wonderful moment.
Figure 9: My lunch at Hosteria Al Gladiatore
After giving our parents video calls to show them that we’d done it, and sending photos to extended family members, we enjoyed the view a bit longer before heading down and walking down the Via dei Fori Imperiali to Hosteria al Gladiatore for lunch.
We were still able to see the Colosseum from through the window, so we had a view while we ate and had our celebratory cocktails – Spritz for me and a Bellini for Charlotte. The staff were very accommodating given we were a little late to our reservation (not following my usual advice to teachers). I had a delicious salmon and cream pennete pasta (Fig.9).
While the skies had been rather dramatic over Rome all morning, there really hadn’t been much rain until after lunch while we were taking the short walk to the Caelian Archaeological Park and Forma Urbis Museum. It got very wet very quickly while I was taking photos of everything in the park. They are still working on finishing excavations and renovations at the Casina del Salvi in the park, though I believe that it will become a study space for students.
The finds in the park are split into four themes – Religion (red on the map), Public Monuments (yellow on the map), Funerary (blue on the map) and Architecture (purple on the map). Then there’s the sub structural remains of the Temple of the Divine Claudius at the back of the funerary section.
Figure 10: The map of the Caelian Archaeological Park
I’m sure if the weather is not wet, the park is a lovely space to visit, there are plenty of benches to sit on and there is so much to see. The primary issue is when the weather is the way it was for our visit was the lack of shelter in the park area. My only other issue with the park is that only a select few of the pieces on display have information panels. So there’s a lot of especially funerary stele where if you can’t make out the faded inscription, you’re out of luck. That being said, there are several impressive pieces of architecture on display. The two below are the Tomb of a Consul (Fig.11)
Figure 11: The Tomb of the Consul
and an Inscription from the Temple of Fortuna Muliebris (Fig.12). The Tomb of a Consul, made of Monteverde tuff with a peperino border and travertine inscribed plaque was discovered during excavations in the Testaccio district in the late 19th Century. It would have overlooked a branch of the Via Ostiense and the gardens of the Sulpicii Galbae. It is unknown whether the tomb is for Servius Sulpicius Galba, jurist and Consul in 144 BC, or his son, Consul in 108 BC. You can make out the carved fasces on the front included to show the status of Consul both these men held. Meanwhile the Inscription from the Temple of Fortuna Muliebris date from 30 BC when Livia sponsored a restoration, leaving her name on the architrave.
There is then a smaller inscription underneath which dates to the 3rd Century and a later restoration by the Severan dynasty, mentioning Septimius Severus, Caracalla, Geta and Julia Domna. The Temple of Fortuna Muliebris was discovered in the 19th Century near Casale di Roma Vecchia in the Park of the Aqueducts, at the fourth mile of the Via Latina. Entry to the park is free, so if you are in Rome on a school trip and have spare time on the day you are visiting the Colosseum, Forum and Palatine, I’d say definitely take a walk over and take a look around.
Figure 12: Inscription from Temple of Fortuna Muliebris
Having got rather wet taking photos of all the pieces on display, we headed inside the Museo della Forma Urbis. A small, specialist museum, I read a blog post before we left (which I now can’t find to save my life) which posed a question over whether the museum as a whole would survive given its specialist nature and out of the way location. One can only hope it does survive and once the restoration of the Casina outside is finished, more visitors stop by.
The Marble Plan of Rome, built under the Septimius Severus and installed upon the wall of the Templum Pacis is a fantastic resource and yet only a tiny percentage of the original has survived, or has been found at this point. The rest may have been destroyed or reused and those sections haven’t been found yet. Several major monuments (or fragments of them) still survive. The wall of the Templum Pacis that the plan was on is now the wall to the left of the entrance to Basilica dei Santi Cosma e Damiano on the Via dei Fori Imperiali.
You can still see all the holes on the wall where the iron pegs would have held the pieces of marble in place. The photo below (Fig.13) is of a display on one wall of the museum, it shows the fragments of the Forma Urbis and where they would have been placed on the wall. It is a very good representation of just how small a percentage of the map as a whole has survived from antiquity.
Figure 13: The overlay map in the Museo della Forma Urbis
Here’s a closer look at one section that many will recognise (Fig.14) – the Theatre of Marcellus and the Circus Flaminius, Aedes to Hercules, Juno and Jove, and the bridge over the Tiber, to Tiber Island.
Figure 14: Fragments of the Forma Urbis
The ancient fragments have been sunk into the floor with a map published in the 18th Century by Giovanni Battista Nolli, which was the first large-scale modern measurement of the city. Nolli’s map is either beneath the Forma Urbis in the sunken sections, or raised above it on the rest of the floor.
With a small entry fee to the museum, which we may be able to book if you’d like to visit, or you can pay in situ, I’d definitely recommend it if you are covering the Severan period, or the city of Rome more generally.
Having made our way round to Monti to kill time before we headed back to the hotel ahead of our planned evening activities, we made sure to grab a gelato from my favourite gelateria (Fatamorgana) and stopped in Bar Monti for a Cioccolato Caldo, which was delicious, the thickest hot chocolate, it was easier to eat it with a spoon than drink it.
Now, unfortunately, lots of sectors in Rome (and presumably wider Italy) were on strike on the Friday, so while the Linea B metro was running, the Linea A was not. We managed to get back to Termini and having tried to get several taxis without much success we made our way in the rain to Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore and managed to get the last taxi at the rank there, only to spend about 40 minutes mostly stuck in traffic, we got about 100 meters from the Cross where we paid the €30 and walked the rest of the way.
The walk from Termini to the Cross is only about 25 minutes, but our feet were a little sore and it was raining, so we wanted to have a break, though that journey was hardly relaxing. Italians love their car horns! Having got back to the hotel and hurriedly got changed for our dinner and drinks that evening, we had the hotel call a taxi and we tried again. Only to then get about 50 feet from the hotel in the space of 25 minutes. So we cut the taxi short, called around to cancel our plans and then went to grab a few snacks from a local supermarket as well as a pizza for me from a local ristorante.
We returned to our hotel room and shared the good news via social media before opening the prosecco provided by the hotel and having a relaxing evening in. The plan was dinner near the Trevi Fountain before drinks at the terrace bar opposite the Fountain at the Hotel Fontana. But seeing as the Trevi didn’t have water put back into it until after we’d left, I don’t suppose we missed much.
Figure 15: The 100 ton chunk of the temple in the Colonna gardens
Day 2, Saturday, was drier than Friday, so we were very grateful for that. It started out at Palazzo Colonna, as Charlotte loves her fancy houses and incredible ceilings. While none of the ancient statuary in the Colonna’s collection had any information panels, there was plenty of statuary to photograph, as well as the paintings and the rooms themselves!
The Colonna have been around since the 11th century and have an extensive garden as part of the Palazzo, which climbs the Quirinal Hill. One side of the gardens feature the remains of the Temple of Septimius Severus dedicated to Hercules and Dionysus (previously thought to be Temple of the Sun and Temple of Serapis). Two sections of this temple, two large chunks from this temple sit in the garden, with the largest being 100 tons (Fig.15). Back inside potentially the most famous room in the Galleria is the Great Hall, full of mirrors, paintings and statues (Fig.16), as well as a cannonball on the short staircase down from the Hall of the Battle Column.
Figure 16: The Great Hall of Palazzo Colonna
The cannonball (Fig.17) was fired by the French army from the Janiculum Hill and landed there in 1849. The Colonna, being an incredibly old, incredibly wealthy and incredibly powerful family, love to have reminders of their symbol everywhere. I don’t think there was a surface without a column on it somewhere. To put in bluntly, if you had to do a shot every time you saw a column, you probably wouldn’t make it out the first room before needing your stomach pumped. All the terracotta plant pots throughout the gardens had a Column on, they were on the ceiling, on the floors, in the wallpaper, and perhaps most impressively, in the backs of the garden chairs (Fig.18).
Figure 17: The cannonball on the stairs leading to the Great Hall
Figure 18: One of the Palazzo Colonna garden chairs
Having finished in Palazzo Colonna, we made our way to the Pantheon, though we were ahead of the schedule, so we first popped into Sant’Ignazio di Loyola to see the ceiling.
Though rather than queue for the mirror (yes, that is indeed a thing people do), I just switched my phone camera to wide-angle lenses and looked up. For other amazing church ceilings in the area, I recommend Cheisa di Gesù and Sant’Andrea della Valle. I tried to get us in to see the Caravaggio paintings in Sant’Agostino in Campo Marzio but it was closed, presumably for lunch. Anyway, we headed back towards the Pantheon and stopped at the Legami Milano store in Piazza della Rotonda so that Charlotte could get some more of the erasable pens she’d discovered in Waterstones and had wanted to collect.
The Pantheon was Charlotte’s favourite building she saw on our last trip to Rome, so she was having a great morning! We both love the Pantheon, greatest building in a city full of them, but we didn’t end up staying in there long because it was rather cold, so much so we could see our breath, though I did manage to snap one of my favourite photos of my fiancée before we left (Fig.19). So off we headed to Ristorante Antiche Due Colonne, where several groups have been eating their dinner recently. I had a lovely Buffalo Mozzarella salad and tiramisu for dessert.
Figure 19: My wonderful fiancée
Our next stop was one I’ve been waiting to see for so long. No – it’s not the Mausoleum of Augustus (still at least another year to wait for that one), but the paths through the Largo di Torre Argentina Sacred Site (as well as the small museum space on site too).
When I was living in Rome in 2019 they had started re-laying the paving slabs, so it was great to be able to get down there now the works have been finished and the sit opened up. I don’t get many groups to go to Centrale Montemartini, where the remains of the cult statue of the Fortuna from her temple in Largo Argentina are, I think it’s just too far out of the way. Despite the excitement to get down there and see the temples close-up, it was also incredibly difficult not to get distracted by the cats walking through the ruins and sitting in the December sun.
It was amazing to get to see the temples close-up from the ancient ground level (or close enough to it). I think my favourite part was seeing the remains of Temple D, despite there not being much to it, as that was something that hadn’t been possible even when you would look down into the site (Fig.21).
Figure 21: Temple D remains at Largo di Torre Argentina
The small museum spaces was quite nice, even though it was only a single line of items from various periods throughout the site’s history. I’ve included a photo of one of the colossal heads that were on display, dating to the 2nd Century AD, it depicts an unnamed female deity (Fig.22). Of course, as you walk around the site you can’t help but notice the cats.
Figure 22: Colossal head of a female deity
The Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary (https://www.gattidiroma.net/web/en/) operates in the space under the Via Florida. They currently have 76 cats in their care, but they’ve looked after tens of thousands. They take in, neuter and spay stray cats in the city to prevent an increase in the stray cat population, as well as inoculating every cat in their care to ensure they live the healthiest lives they can. Long may they continue their work!
I think we can all agree the Largo Argentina site wouldn’t be the same without the cats. Having made a brief stop to visit the sanctuary and made a donation, we had a quick drink break before hopping in a taxi back to the hotel. Helpfully, the strike was over so we actually managed to make good time and progress through the city to reach the Cross. We got changed into more formal clothing before taking the metro to Barberini and heading into Christmas World at Villa Borghese, a slightly smaller scale Christmas event similar to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. While we’d seen the various lights and decorations as we walked around Rome, I figured Charlotte would enjoy the Christmas World spirit, given it is her favourite time of year.
Figure 23: One of the Christmas trees at Christmas World
I think it was aimed more at families with children, but it made for a nice break from all the ancient sites. The “world” was split into different cities – Berlin, Tokyo, Paris, and London that had all specific foods and designs. While there were various activities like skating rink, ice slide, ice bumper, and a carousel tree we just enjoyed our stroll round with all the lights and decorations, had a quick bite to eat (freshly made crepes and a hot dog) and watched the parade as it sung and danced a lap of the area.
Figure 24: The Three Tenors performing.
We then left to meet a friend of mine for a drink in Piazza del Popolo before heading to our last activity of the day. I had booked us into watch the Three Tenors perform songs from operas at San Paolo entro le Mura. An episcopal church it was the first non-Roman Catholic Church built within the city walls. While I only recognised a few of the songs, it was a fantastic evening. Charlotte absolutely loved it! The Tenors were accompanied by a female dancer (Fig.24) who went through several costume changes and the music was a grand piano and mandolin played by a Neapolitan Orchestra duo.
The songs included O Sole Mio and Nessun Dorma, as well as ‘La donna è mobile’ Rigoletto by Verdi, and ‘E lucevan le stelle’ from Tosca by Puccini.
Figure 25: The basalt slabs of Ponte Loreto
Sunday, our last full day in Rome. No matter what holiday or trip you take and where you go, this last day always comes around too soon. You never feel like you’ve had enough time or seen everything you wanted to see. But we had a fantastic last day. It was a bit of an early start, but we got to Termini and boarded the train to Campoleone, a fairly quick 20 mins or so, for about €3.20 each. This is where we met Sabrina and Loredana, who took us over to Lanuvio, with a brief stop at Ponte Loreto first (Fig.25).
Having met Loredana last time we were in Rome (Sept ’22), it was lovely to get a chance to meet Sabrina this time. They were both wonderful hosts showing us around their local area, and we would encourage more groups in Rome to do day trips to the Alban Hills or make a stay there to see the various local sites part of their trips.
Ponte Loreto is the surviving remains of the ancient Roman bridge and road running south of Lanuvio, next to the modern Via Astura. There’s a single arch over the stream, but the basalt slabs go on for quite some distance. After this we were off to central Lanuvio to see the Temple of Juno Sospita and the other sites that make up the Lanuvio Civic Museum. The Temple of Juno Sospita (goddess of marriage was an appropriate choice of visit from Sabrina and Loredana) was an interesting visit. The most complete section is the portico, divided into arcades, with doric style pilasters (Fig.26), it led to the cave where the sacred snake of Juno lived.
Figure 26: The portico of the Sanctuary of Juno Sospita
The temple complex was built as early as the 7th Century BC, though it would go through two further building periods up to the 3rd Century BC. We were lucky enough to be able to cross the road and be shown up to the remains of the temple building itself. The tree in the photo is located in the central cella where the cult statue of Juno was believed to have been (Fig.27).
Figure 27: The tree in the central cella of the Temple of Juno
We were then shown inside the Villa Sforza Cesarini where we could see some very nice archaic finds and Greek vases, before heading out into the town to the Medieval Tower, which was built as part of the castle in the 9th Century AD, before being rebuilt in the 14th Century AD. It has been both a watch tower and a secret prison where some pretty gruesome torture took place. Turns out the locals had a guillotine that differed from the French original by having a straight blade rather than one at an angle so that it didn’t cut through in one clean swoop.
After thar rather grisly stop we stopped at the Sala della Stipe di Pantanacci where they have recreated the cave from nearby Pantanacci, where the locals worshipped a divine snake by having two female virgins bring it a focaccia like bread. Within this recreated cave they have displayed a series of votive offerings found at the site (Fig.28). It was interesting to see the statue of the snake surrounded by all the votive offerings. I just wish there had been some information boards in English! Though I could pick up the general gist of the Italian explanation and Sabrina and Loredana very kindly filled in with a translation where necessary.
Figure 28: The votive offerings and snake statue from Pantanacci
The last stop in Lanuvio was the open section of the central museum building, and I have the feeling that there was some closed sections, as researching online makes mention of an epigraphic museum as well as a Dionysiac fresco and a polychrome mosaic, none of which we were able to see. But anyway, the visitable section of the main museum had a statue group of Macedonian horsemen that came from the Sanctuary of Juno, dating to around 75-50 BC and some of these pieces had been returned or loaned from Leeds City Museum due to being excavated by Lord Savile Lumley. These marble Macedonians are supposedly a copy of the Turma Alexandri created by Lysippus for Alexander the Great out of bronze in the 4th Century BC after his victory at the river Granicus. The bronze statues ended up in Rome, where Consul Licinius Murena ordered a marble copy to be sculpted to celebrate his victory over Mithridates III. Murena, being from Lanuvium, donated this marble statue group to the
Figure 29: Possibly the head of Murena, damaged in bombing during WWII.
Sanctuary of Juno Sospita. While the fragments of this piece dominated the open section of the museum, there were also two casts of female-headed antefixes, and a model of the excavations. It was all perfectly interesting, just a shame to that there was not more to see. We all hopped back in the car and headed to Nemi for our lunch stop. Having seen the Ship Museum at Nemi I wasn’t too bothered about returning, I more wanted to visit the town, as these towns in the Alban Hills are all so picturesque and charming. Our restaurant was Il Rama d’Oro, if you know your theory of mythology then the Golden Bough will be familiar. James Frazer’s work on comparative mythology was centred around the pre-Roman priest- king Rex Nemorensis, who would be ritually murdered by his successor.
Figure 30: The town of Nemi
After some delicious local pasta, the dessert came out and it was splendid, so splendid I did not actually photograph it before wolfing it down. But it was a shortcrust pasty base filled with a cream and on top was dotted a lot of the local fragoline wild strawberries and a dusting of icing sugar. A quick and easy explanation on Nemi and its Strawberries can be found here. We walked to the Terrace of the Lovers (appropriate) and had a look over the lake, with a view down on to the Temple of Diana, before heading back to Sabrina’s car.
Figure 31: Myself, Charlotte, Sabrina and Loredana in front of the massive window overlooking Lake Nemi during lunch
Sabrina and Loredana drove us to Cecchina and for €2.10 we took the 40 minute train back to Termini.
Arriving around 16:15 we took the Metro to Spagna to have a look at the Christmas lights there (Fig.32), being so close to Christmas it was absolutely packed, but we managed to have a quick look at the Via del Corso, grab Charlotte a Colosseum charm for her Pandora bracelet and get back on the metro to Vittorio Emanuele, to then walk to Gelateria Fassi for our private Gelato Making session. If I’ve created an itinerary for you, you know I’ll have recommended a stop at Fassi for a gelato if you’re staying at the Cross and wanting to take the group out in the evening.
Figure 32: The Bulgari tree at the Spanish Steps
We had a go at making banana gelato, as well as having a history talk from one of the staff at Fassi, then we got to try some more gelato and the San Pietrini. We definitely recommend trying that as well as your standard gelato should you go to Fassi. Little cubes of flavoured ice cream dipped in chocolate, they are wonderful, and just the right size to fit in the mouth in one go! Having thanked our wonderful Fassi host we departed for la Pecora Pazza for dinner. Those of you who have been travelling with us since pre-Covid may remember this restaurant as one of your dinner locations. Unfortunately, they no longer wish to serve school groups, but the food was great, and the staff are were great.
Having shown Charlotte Porta Maggiore and the “Temple of Minerva Medica” we returned to the hotel, packed and went to bed ahead of our early start for our lunch time flight home. Safe to say we both had an amazing time on this trip, Charlotte loved every aspect of it that I’d put together to make it a romantic weekend to remember. We’re already looking forward to our next trip, when we introduce Charlotte’s son to Rome.
Separately, I’ve got several places I want to go and see (Drugstore Museum south of Trastevere station, Lucrezia Romana Antiquarium, Villa of the Gordians) and we’re both looking forward to getting out to the Alban Hills again in the future to see the rest of the villages and their treasures! Annoyingly, a few days after we left the Parco Colosseo opened the remains of the horrea piperataria to the public, so that’s gone straight on the list for the next visit! I managed to not blister Charlotte’s feet this time, keeping us below 25,000 steps each day, with plenty of breaks!
All photos from the trip have been uploaded to Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mumblerjamie/albums
Figure 33: Our announcement photo from Friday night