Linda and Bill complete the Itinerary

Today was Linda and Bill's last day with us. We used it to ensure that they completed their itinerary, seeing all the major sites of Rome.  It has been a whirlwind few days, but we have managed:

Colosseum
Forum
Palatine Hill
St. Peters (with Michelangelo Pieta)
Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel
Castel San Angelo
Ponte San Angelo
Catacombs (San Calixto)
St. John Lateran
Pantheon
Piazza Navarro
Piazza Popolo
Piazza Venezia
Circo Maximo
Vittorio Emanuelle II Monument
Spanish Steps (Piazza di Spagna)
Fontana di Trevi
Tiber River walk
Baths of Carcalla
Jewish Quarter
S. Clemente
S. Maria Sopra Minerva (with Michelangelo Risen Christ)
S. Pietro in Vincoli (and Michelangelo Moses)
S. Luigi
S. Maria di Trastevere
S. Marco
S. Ignazio
S. Pascalis Baylon
S. Maria di Scala
S. Agata
plus a day trip to Florence

Our feet hurt.  Tomorrow is an "Administrative Day", (deemed a "lazy day" by my children.)  We need one.

Highlights of today include our visit to S. Clemente which is a 12th Century church atop an 8th Century church atop a pagan Mithraem temple.  It is a well preserved example of the "layers of Rome", and you can see the ancient church right below the contemporary church (which itself looks old.)  The Mithraem was downright creepy, and Meredith had a LOT of questions about the significance of drinking bull's blood and bull semen (starting with, "What's semen?")  One of the interesting parts of this tour was seeing the various pieces of repurposes architecture.  For example, the columns and capitals in the main sanctuary are all different, having been brought from a variety of sources to build this church.

In the morning, we visited Minerva Sopra.  The statue of the risen Christ is  beautiful and as close as we are likely to get to a real Michelangelo (as in, we could touch it, which we didn't).  It is a beautiful piece.  Too bad is later marred by a bronze loincloth and the addition of nail holes in the hands, wrecking MichelAngelo's vision of showing the imperviousness of Christ to lust and temptation and the perfection of the post-resurrection body.  Sopra Minerva is truly beautiful, but as Laura noted, it has an "embarrassment" of artistic riches.  It also has a few cool tombs--including the skeletal martyr S. Victoria, Martyr, whose skeletal face peeks out from beneath her gauzy veil!

Post Minerva and the adjacent Pantheon, we walked to St. John Lateran metro to buy new metro passes. Par for the course, the credit card function wasn't working setting off a scramble for cash to feed the machine.  We bought two weeks worth, so at least we're done with that for a while.  We then crowded onto a train to head to Spanish Steps.   The girls were terrified of the crush, but we split them up among three adults with instructions to stay with your partner and meet on the next platform.  It worked, and we all arrived at the same time, although we exited from separate doors.  Spanish Steps were their normal boring selves, not worthy of special comment.  Next it was back on the Metro for a two-stop trip to Republica to have drinks on the terrace of the Exedra Hotel--one of my favorite watering Roman watering holes.  (Girls liked it too!)  A martini never tasted so good.  We experimented with the "H" bus from Termini (which actually worked out pretty well) to return to our 'hood and went to dinner in the Jewish quarter.  I was proud of the girls, for getting adventuresome, with Olivia reaching for the stars with Salmon Pizza and Cecily and Meredith settling for "minced meat spaghetti" (Pasta Bolognese).  On the way from Termini, Olivia gave up her seat to a nun, provoking a very favorable reaction.  The lovely old lady gave Olivia cookies and pronounced all the girls beautiful and their mother wonderful for raising such considerate daughters.  It was a proud papa moment.  We walked home through the oppressive Rome heat (It continues to register above 100), and as we passed S. Agata in the Trastevere, we chanced upon a service in progress.  It turned out to be a charismatic catholic service, of a variety I've never previously seen.  There was a praise band and much waving of hands.  There was writing down of prayers and lighting of candles and laying both at the altar.  Cecily and Meredith were happy participants, and it was interesting to wonder how all this will square with Awanas next year!  We ended the evening at the square.  Tomorrow comes early, as Bill and Linda depart at 6 a.m. to begin the long journey home.