Our Special List:

You can read the girls' impressions of things they thought were worthy of seeing and doing in the previous post.  Here's Laura's and my additions and personal recommendations for "not to be missed" opportunities:

1. Sopra Minvera.  This ancient church adjacent to the Pantheon was a pagan temple before it was a major basilica.  It is beautiful in its own right.  In the left hand corner near the altar is a statue of Christ with a cross.  This is actually a Michelangelo sculpture, totally unprotected.  It is as close as you will get to Michelangelo.  Everything else is behind class or ropes.  Simply beautiful and simply amazing.

2. Ara coeli.  If you climb to the very top of the Vittorio Emanuele monument (the white wedding-cake looking building in the middle of the Piazza Venezia) you will be astonished to find an ancient and beautiful church.  This is the official church of the Rome city council and dates back over 1,000 years.  It is beautiful and little visited.  Surprisingly and jarringly, it exists atop a monument built in the 20th century--by excavating the hill underneath it.

3. Tour of the Jewish Synagogue.  Rome is home to Europe;s oldest continuous Jewish community. The great synagogue is home to 13,000 worshippers and includes two separate synagogues in one building.  The synagogue includes an interesting museum.  After several days of high baroque catholicism, the synagogue provides a nice break from intellectual conformity.  Afterwards, you can enjoy dinner in the adjacent Jewish Quarter and a walk through the ruins of the Flavian Amphitheater and the Teatro Marcello, which are dramatically lit by night.

4. At the Coliseum:  Hire the guide.  Wander down to the Coliseum and you will be approached by someone offering you a guided tour. You will question the expense v. value ratio of this, but trust us:  the guide is a much better way to see the Coliseum.  Plus you can skip the LONG admission line, and you will learn a lot more.  The same ticket should also get you preferential admission to the Roman Forum afterwards, making both sites doable in a single day.

5. Papal audience vs. Papal angelus.  We've done both, and the audience is definitely better. The angelus involves the pope appearing in the window.  The audience involves (Pope Francis, at least) driving around the square in his golf cart, greeting the crowd.  Go early (like four hours early) to stake out a spot on the rope line, and you may find yourself up close and personal with a major world figure.  Take plenty of water and something to keep the sun off your head.  If you an find a spot in the shade, so much the better.

6. Catacombs--it takes some doing to get to the Catacombs, but they are really worth doing. You go nearly 80 feet underground and begin to get a sense of just how dreadful life was for the early Christians, fleeing persecution and how strongly they clung to their faith.  In addition, it's just cool.

7. A day at the beach is really a cultural experience not to be missed.  We took the regional train to Santa Marinella. From there it's an easy 5-minute walk to the beach. You will need to rent an umbrella and beach chair.  Drinks are available at the beach.  When you're done, walk back to the train station and take the half hour to sixty minute trip home. (Depending on which train you take.)  It's a uniquely European experience, and the cool beach provides a nice break from the heat of Rome.

8.  Roman Ruins:  There are several ways to see the Roman ruins in Rome, all of which have their plusses and minuses.  The "it" tour is the day trip to Pompeii, although we though Herculaneum was better.  If you go, hire the professional guide (at the ruins) for a better understanding of what you are seeing.  Lesser know, but easily done is the day trip to the ruins of Ostia Antica, the old port, about 40 minutes outside Rome.  Take the metro to Pyramide and switch to the regional rail (same ticket).  Get off at the Ostia stop and buy the map at the entrance.  You can easily spend three to four hours at this site, so start early.  Stop along the way at the St. Pauls stop and walk over to the least-visited of the four papal basilica--St. Paul's Outside the Walls, built over the spot where St. Paul was supposedly beheaded and containing his grave.   If you're still in the mood for ruins, you can visit the gargantuan walls and the amazingly mosaic floors of the baths of Carcalla (take a local bus to Terme di Carcalla) or you can walk from S. Giovanni in Laterano (where you can also visit another papal basilica, a former bath itself.)  You can also see the remains of the Stadio Domitian, underneath the present day Piazza Navona and accessible at the curved end of the piazza.

9. Palazzo Colonna.  We hadn't visited this site before this trip, and it is open only on a limited schedule.  Near its more famous cousin, the Palazzo Doria Pamphilij, the Colonna is an incredible art collection assembled over 80 years and housed in an architectural setting worthy of Versailles.  It is worthy of a Saturday morning, if your visit happens to align with opening hours.

10. Drinks on the plazza of the Hotel Exedra, at Republicca metro stop.  (The metro dumps out at the entrance to the hotel.).  This is Scott's favorite venue in Rome.  Sit on the covered portico and watch the the people go by in the Piazza popolo. The drinks even come with snacks!  A really pleasant way to wind up a long day, and the cocktails are the best in Rome.

Bonus 1:  If you need green space, spend an afternoon wandering around the grounds of the Villa Borghese.  Rent bikes or segways or enjoy other entertainment.  This is a huge urban green space and provides a little refreshing cool in a hot city.

Bonus 2:  We simply loved the  Bar di San Calisto adjacent to the Santa Maria Trastevere square.  The gelato is artisinal and made on site.  It is the least expensive in Rome, but oh so yummy and oh so authentic.  You can also get a grande Pirone beer to enjoy with the locals and tourists or take it away to enjoy the street performers and ambiance at the square.  A uniquely Roman experience. (If you need your soul cleansed in advance of all this merriment, you can also attend the community vespers service at S. Maria in Trastevere, one of Rome's oldest churches, at 8:30.)