Rome for another day

Apologies for the delay in posting to our new blog. There are several reasons. The best is that we've been very busy having fun! The worst is that the blogger has been sick with a bad cold since the day after we arrived and has slept more than she should. And her camera broke on the first day! And finally, gaining access to the Internet has not been as easy as we'd expected.
But we have been having a great time. We spent Friday and Saturday exploring Rome.

After a wonderful dinner on Friday evening at a restaurant named DaTullio, we finally collapsed. (The picture above shows Judy, Ed and Lee enjoying dinner.)

Saturday began with a walk from our hotel, located near the Spanish Steps. We began there, taking lots of pictures of the Spanish church, the Steps, the Fountain and the expensive shops in that area. Next we walked to the Pantheon, built about the year 115 A.D. Still in perfect condition, the 148-foot dome covers the tombs of some of Italy's most important men.

From the Pantheon we walked toward the Piazza Navona, a beautiful large public space built around the ancient oval hippodrome (racetrack) where Roman charioteers once competed. We paused here for lunch before beginning a walk to the Vatican. The walk was further than Google maps suggested, and we barely made our meeting with Giuseppi, our Vatican guide. We learned something of the history of the museums and the popes, we saw the magnificent Sistine chapel and a few more objects, and then we arrived at St. Peter's Basilica. To be honest, our Vatican tour was rather disappointing. We were just shuffled through with crowds of other tourists, and shown only the part that was easiest for the guide. St. Peter's was about to host of meeting of all the world's cardinals, which would begin on the morning after our visit, so the basilica was filled with portable chairs and dividers and hanging curtains, and again, we were simply shuffled through the edges. Our group wasn't really able to feel the overwhelming size and magnificence of the building.

Saturday evening we scattered to find separate places for dinner and to explore Rome after dark. Most of us were in bed pretty early, I think, because we had an early wake-up call to meet our bus at 8:00 a.m.