Italian Adventure!

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More of Rome

As often happens when traveling, it's always good to have a Plan B. Friday morning we awaken to severe thunderstorms and lightning; and some very sore feet! Our intention was to head over to St. Peter's Basilica early, but we scrap that in favor of sleeping in and recovering a bit from the miles walked on Thursday and the jet lag that has settled in. Around noon, we head out (much refreshed) to see more of Rome. We start on the Metro again, as we are experts at this now, and leave the city center to see the St. Paul Basilica just the other side of the ancient Roman wall. Aptly called, St. Paul's Outside the Wall. St. Paul's is a very beautiful basilica, ornate gothic decoration and a beautifully intricate mosaic over the main altar. We spend some time there looking around and learning about the history of the basilica, then head to the Pyramide of Cestius. It is remarkable how much the Romans were fascinated by Egypt and Egyptian artifacts. There are several obelisks in Rome, most notably the one in front of St. Peter's at the Vatican, but there is also a pyramid. The story is that Romans became quite enamored of the Egyptians during the time of Cleopatra (and we all know how that worked out)! The Pyramide is an imposing structure, originally built in 30 B.C., and it is near one of the Ancient Roman gates, the exact gate, as a matter of fact, where the city of Rome was entered by American GIs during WWII, to begin the liberation of Italy. Very near the Pyramide is a beautiful cemetary, the Protestant Cemetary, where non-Catholic Romans are buried, as well as many famous expatriate dignitaries; including Percy Shelley and John Keats. The cemetary is full of very beautiful sculptural markers and headstones. We find cypress and pomegranate trees among the usual flowers and shrubs, as well. The cemetary is also famous for it's population of cats, of which we only see two, but we make a donation to help feed them so they can continue to wander about this lovely and peaceful place. Another hop on the Metro brings us to the Basilica of San Clemente al Laterno, built in 1100 A.D. (during the Middle Ages), atop a 4th Century basilica, which was in turn built on top of a 2nd Century mithraeum; used by worshippers of the ancient god, Mithras. We head back to the hotel, to wash up and get ready for our trip to the Musei Vaticano (Vatican Museums) and the Sistine Chapel.

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