St. Peter's Basilica

With the forecast calling for showers, it seemed like the perfect day to tour St. Peter's and the Vatican Museum. The line only took 45 minutes to go through security for St. Peter's and it went quickly as we stood outside and did a lot of people-watching. St. Peter's is truly overwhelming and we were awestruck with the magnitude and beauty of the church. But the fun part was climbing the 310 steps to the cupola from where we were treated to magnificent views of Rome. After lunch at a recommended restaurant from a CDA friend (thanks, Paula), we decided we were too tired to do the museum and just came back to the house and watched the worst of the "Raiders" trilogy! But we agreed to tell everyone we had toured the museum!

Ostia Antica

Ostia Antica is an amazing place about 1/2 hour by train toward the Mediterranean Sea. This was the port of ancient Rome in the 4th C BC before the Tiber changed course away from the city. The town was eventually covered over and has been excavated. Many say this is better than Pompeii because it is so large. We were fascinated by the very large public bath house that had a work out room as well as a place to get an olive oil massage! The walls and floors were all heated with hot water within. Steve is pictured in one of the hot pools. (And no, it wasn't mixed bathing; the women had a smaller area that was separate.) We had lunch at the top of the remains of the theater where performances are still held.

First Day in Rome

We decided to start with one of the most popular tourist sites, the Coliseum and the Roman Forum on our first day of site-seeing. We were both impressed at how much has been preserved of both these ruins. AND their size!  Thank goodness Steve had downloaded Rick Steves' audio guides because we were able to complete both in just a few hours giving us plenty of time for lunch and general wandering around. We've decided that we really like the Cliff Notes approach that Rick does because we generally finish the tour before being exhausted!

Hanging Out

We have spent the last few days hanging out in Asciano instead of visiting Siena. Usually about two weeks in when traveling in a country where we don't know the language, instead of finding things interesting and challenging, we find them annoying! That's where we are right now - also isolated. But we took the train to Rome today and found our new "home" for our last week. Got some groceries and cooking chicken cacchiatori for dinner which  somehow helps!