Finishing up.....

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Geo: 46.2741, -119.274

Back again! Thought I'd fill in the gaps and then finish out the trip. So sorry about all the misspellings and wrong grammar! I was paying by the minute and had to be fast, that with the different keyboard really had me! are those excuses good enough?? 😊

May 31:
Mauro, our apt. manager met us at the airport when we arrived. A little apprehensive/ curious about the upcoming ride into Roma, as we had heard about the driving.... He drove 120 km and a little faster. I guess that's 80 and above... people were passing us.... no turn-signaling to change lanes by anyone, motorcycles just drive inbetween the cars, not in their own lanes.....
Found Piazza Navona, went into some churches there, walked into the Pantheon, WOW! very impressive, Campo Di'Fiore...

June1:
Took a bus to the Borghese Villa Gallery, took the English tour. Saw the other "David" statue, practically a run through the gallery on the 2-hour tour. Not nearly enough time to really see everything but more than enough time for our feet!
In our walking, we just happened to run across Marcus Aurelius' Column in Piazza Colonna on the way to the Pantheon! Amazing stuff to just happen upon!
Had a gelato in Campo Di' Fiori, while eating sat at the base of the statue of "Bruno (i)?" watching some little kids dance to the live music. Very enjoyable.

June 2:
This day was a national holiday, "Anniversary of the Republic" We took another bus over to St. Peters / Vatican. Found the spot to enter for our Scavi tour then went and walked around St. Peters Square till our time for the tour. We had a great tour guide for this, her name was Karen and she was from Texas. We saw the actual bones of Peter and his burial place at the end of the tour. I think it really is the actual place and bones of Peter, they have very convincing evidence and it goes with the history of the time very well. Before we got to his area we passed through very well preserved pagan and one Christian burial places. All this is underground under St. Peters Basilica. While under there saw parts of the retaining walls Constantine built to level out Vaticanus Hill to build the original St. Peters. After this, we went into St. Peters Basilica. Very BIG! Impressive, they have a red stone at the entrance showing the spot Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor. They have incorporated what are believed to be 4 of the pillars taken from the Temple of Jerusalem into the architecture... could be very credible, as the Romans took back to Rome many items from there after destroying Jerusalem in 70 AD. Found our bus back to the apt. took a rest then continued on another bus to the Coliseum, you know the rest about that.... Walked up the hill to St. Peter in Chains church, ended up being closed. Ate a great dinner nearby. Sitting there realized that Paul very well could have walked up the same hill we did when he was in Rome. This really makes history come alive especially when you interweave the facts/ people from the Bible that were living at the same time. I can't really explain the feelings I had seeing where Paul walked, Peters' bones and thinking about his and Pauls martyrdoms, seeing the prison where they were both kept, seeing the supposed chains that Peter wore, seeing Circus Maximus where so many Christians lost their earthly lives. It was at times sobering, yet at the same time, you could see the relentless moving of time. It stops for no one person no matter how important they may be..... progress and the next civilization just keeps building on what was before...

Back to Piazza Navona where we watched the "artists", one was a man with finger puppets, dancing to Michael Jackson music! He had a little smoke, lights, etc... The next was a group of 3 guys and 1 girl break dancing! Adrienne would have loved it! It was street gymnastics, very athletic, entertaining, definitely gave them a donation as thanks!
Made our way back toward our apartment and had another gelato 😊 this was very good!

Sunday, June 3:
After some round about wanderings, we found Rome Baptist Church.. 20 minutes late.... Great English language service. 35 nationalities present! The pastor is from Pendleton, Or. small world! It down poured all morning till about 2 pm. Went to Hadrians Mausoleum/ Mole/ Castl Sant'Anglo.... all the same thing, although it evolved with different uses. Took lots of pics. Really thinking about my history kids here!! 😊 You all would have loved this, I took the audio tour, it took a good 2 hours to see it all and listen to the tour. We walked back the way we had come from the church we had attended to find a restaurant and lo and behold there were the Spanish Steps! We ate at a restaurant a couple of blocks away. We then we to the steps but were too tired to walk up them! Went into the Dior shop, amazed they let us in! then walked down the Via Condotti looking in all the famous designer's windows! fun! There was actually a line of people waiting for permission to get in Yves St. Laurent as they were only letting a couple of people at a time in!! We then made our way to the Ara Pacis - Altar of Peace made by Augustus rented the audio tour, very informative. again thinking of my history kids! wishing they could see all this stuff we have read about!

Will continue tomorrow if possible, very tired still from the jet lag.....
Wendy

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