The sun shone boldly against our backs as we walked to the Roman Forum today. It was gonna be a hot one. But hey, we’re in Italia, so we got this! The administrative center of the city, the Forum was where the serious stuff went down — politics, slaps on the back, finger wagging, and oh, yeah, running an empire. Today, we can see many layers of buildings from several periods of Roman history. It’s extraordinary!

Jack Biear donned the professorial cap first off with a lesson on the Arch of Titus. Nice work, JB! The immense, adorned arch was built by younger brother Domitian and commemorates Titus’ conquest of Judaea. Next up: Finn Moore, who wowed us with his presentation on the Temple of Divine Julius Caesar. Well done, Finn! Ol’ Julius was the first human type to get deified, and the temple was dedicated by Augustus (who wanted to connect to his adoptive Dad). Following Finn’s cogent remarks, Jackson Sipple-Asher blew us away again (!) with a recitation of Marc Antony’s soliloquy from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears…” Remarkable! If we’d had roses, Jackson would have been covered with them!

Gavin Goldstein was next up “to the lectern,” and he nailed his presentation on the Temple of Vesta like a seasoned pro on the lecture circuit. The temple housed a flame that constantly burned — not good for the realm if the flame went out — and it was tended by the vestal virgins who lived in the quarters attached to the temple.

Then, we left the Forum and climbed Palatine Hill, which overlooks Circus Maximus and is the site of some of the earliest settlements in Rome. And that brought up Arleigh Womack, Jr., who seems to already be a pro on the circuit (I think!). His class on the hut of Romulus — y’know that guy who killed his brother and founded Rome? — covered the whole story, of course, but also was delivered with the ease and erudition of a professor at Oxford. Wow, Arleigh!

After lunch, we hit the Colosseum with quite a few of our fellow tourists. But that glorious sun still radiated with gusto, and we soaked up a heck of a lot of antiquity. Emperors Titus and Domitian funded the project which housed some ferocious entertainment for the patricians and plebeians, including executions, gladiator contests, wild beasts, and ship-battle reenactments. What?! The Colosseum store wrapped up our visit.

Finally, we walked to our Italian cooking lesson, and the students prepared tiramisu and two types of pasta…and then, we ate it all. Yum! Our gracious chef congratulated the whole crew on their enthusiasm and finesse and said that our gang fared better than some folks with certificates!

After the hard work and accolades, we had free time for souvenirs and gelato. Yes!