The Day of Augustus.

As you all may know, Augustus was the first emperor of the Roman Empire -- ruling from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD. After the beginning of his reign, he constructed his family's mausoleum in 28 BC. 

The Mausoleum of Augustus.

It's currently under major renovations, so there was a lot of fencing.. plus the trees are all in the way. 

One of the most hated buildings in Rome that holds one of the most beloved artifacts -- the Ara Pacis. It was designed by Richard Meier, an American architect, who won a contest held by the Mayor of Rome, Gianna Alemanno. Since its completion in 2006, it has been decided that modifications will take place in order to make it more "Romanesque." 

A little model of the Ara Pacis.

The front side.

Yesterday, when I was talking about picturing everything being colorful, this is what I was talking about. 

Ever since the excavation of the Altar of Augustan Peace, determining who the carved figures are has been an ongoing argument -- like to this day. There are soooo many theories on who they are, what they are doing, and when they were doing it.

The back side. 

This obelisk used to be in the Campus Martius and was apart of a sundial Augustus had built.

On the way to the obelisk, we passed by the restaurant that invented fettucini alfredo! Just a normal bowl of this cost 20 euros.. Yes, I will be buying cheap lunches for a week or two so I can go all out and eat a crazy awesome lunch here. Eeekk :)

And we also stumbled across one of the most famous places to get gelato at in Italy -- Giolitti. It was established in 1900 and has been doing business since. I didn't have any gelato today with the others, but I will be gettin' some here before I leave.. no doubt about it.

I must say, today has been a pretty long day. I don't know what it is, but everyone's allergies have been giving them a hard time. At first, I was doing just fine, but these past few days haven't been the best -- congested and snuffly and blah blah blah. So I'm trying to hardcore get better, if that's possible with allergies.?, I don't know.. but I'm going to try and find out. Gotta stay healthy and positive. Which reminds me, I ran tonight.. third time this week! Boo-yaa to those who said I was going to gain weight on this trip. ;)