Catacombs--NOT

Another frustrating day spent mostly waiting for the bus that never comes:  the one that goes to the catacombs.  Why the Italian people do not REVOLT over their stupid and inefficient transportation system is mystery...  On the bright side, it was educational to watch the traffic circling the very busy Piazza Venetzia:  city busses, tourist coaches, cars and motorcycles competing with an ever-moving hoard of pedestrians and the coming and going of the occasional train in a vast, moving sea of humanity, yet somehow, everybody gets where he's going and nobody (and no one's property) gets hurt.  It really is amazing.  We will try for catacombs again tomorrow, but this time we will not try to use the shortest-distance approach but will trudge our way through the heat to the Petrocelli stop:  the one we KNOW works!  Before and after the Long Wait (as Cecily titled it in her journal entry today), we had a few other notable adventures.  We toured the churches of the Trastevere this morning, St. Frances, Maria dell' Orto and Santa Cecilia.  St. Francis is a rather austere building, which for some reason impressed Cecily in her journals as being "covered in gold".  Who knows what goes through that girl's mind?  Maria dell' Orto was closed, operating a bizarre Italian of odd hours of access, while Santa Cecilia offered a special treat in the wait of an impromptu organ concert played by a nun--truly beautiful and in keeping with S. Cecilia's status as the patron of music. Afternoon was spent pursuing pizza, prosecco and gelato before we left early so that Dad could retrieve Aunt Linda and Uncle Bill from the airport, while Mom stayed behind to prepare a breaded chicken an breaded pork welcome feast for them.  The connection from FCO to  Staz. Travestere and then through on the tram turned out to be amazingly efficient, and may come in handy in future. Have had a couple of moments of pride watching the girls today.  Cecily decided she needed a toilet a the busy restaurant on the Piazza Venetzia.  She went off on her own, and managed to negotiate a conversation in Italian to find the facility.  By the time she returned to the table, she was "La Principessa" for the wait staff, all of whom were in love.  All three girls committed themselves well ordering gellato today in full Italian sentences.  The effort was greatly appreciated by the clerk, who spoke no Italian at all.  Lastly, both Meredith and Cecily have caught the reading bug, thanks to to Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series, featuring the exploits of various gods, who suddenly seem more real for being here in their ancient home.  It is fun to see them struggle with whether they would prefer to be out and about or home with their noses stuck in a Kindle.