North of Via Veneto and Piazza di Spagna there is a large park belonging to Villa Borghese. This area gives an almost magic experience. The trees are very old, high, and knotty. Among the trees in the park one can also find large and majestic statues. Early one morning I wandered through the park and heard, in the distance, soft and wonderful renaissance music from a young man playing a flute. This made the atmosphere very special and I gave a coin to the man playing.

Villa Borghese was built 1605 and is today open to the public. Here are two museums Museo Borghese and Galleria Borghese with large collections of paintings and sculptures that were the former property of the family Borghese. The museums are well worth a visit. One of the most beautiful sculpture shown here is the sculpture of the young and beautiful Pauline Borghese made by Canova. Here one can also find art pieces by other artists such as Caravaggio and Raphael. Bernini’s David also belongs to the museum. David perhaps is a self portrait of the great master himself.

In the Borghese park there is also a zoological park for the children and the Borghese park is very popular and much frequented by the romans. It is lovely to rest on the slope below the zoological park. Here one can see the romans walk their dogs on the promenade below. Almost all dogs are without a leash while walking and they behave very well. One clearly sees that the dogs have learned to respect other dogs and during the time I rested here I did not see any dog fights. The people met and talked and it looked as if the dogs also met old dog friends.

In the park there is also a small lake with a lot of birds. In one part of the lake one can hire rowing-boats. It was a fun experience to sit by the lake watching the people struggling in their boats trying to figure out how to row. Luckily the oars were nailed to their rowlocks and could not fall off. This made it possible for most rowers to finally reach land.