Roma!

Hello from Rome! Travis and I have been going non-stop for 6 days!!!! T. is very good to travel with....most of the time he finds his way around perfectly and he is always up for something new! I also find some of his insights and opinions very interesting and we have had some good discussions.... We are especially enjoying the Rick Steves' guide to Rome.....we highly recommend it....funny, acccurate and concise!

We have hit all the major places and are now going to some lesser-known sites.

The rain finally stopped so we are enjoying sun and warmth. Today for example we attended church at the Methodist Church in Rome......a very calm and clean church with nothing on the walls but the cross. It was very restful after allthe packed to the gills places we've visited! The music was all old hymns by the Wesleys, and the sermon was great! It was right across from the Castello San Angelo, which we walked past with an angel named Juliet who saved the day for me with an eye problem I was having!

We lunched at a terrific little restaurant with no menu.....Travis had the traditional penne alla matriciana (bacon, tomato sauce, and pecorino cheese) while I had the alla arrebiata (tomato sauce with hot peppers and Italian parsley). Then we each had grilled chicken with lemon, T. with roasted potatoes and me with spinach. It was wonderful as has been nearly everything we have eaten!

We caught the bus to the old Appian Way and walked all the way back down....it was sunny, the birds were singing and the views were beautiful. T. went into the San Callisto catacombs.......

After we got back to Rome we had gelato while we toured 3 churches which were open for Sunday evening mass.......the original Jesuit church filled with gold and unusual ceilings with sculptures that were 3D as well as another church with the Madonna blue ceiling full of stars. The we hiked over to the Campo di Fiori for a porchetta panino for dinner......panini bread with sliced roast pork, sun dried tomatoes, grilled eggplant and zucchini, red onions......grilled until hot!

Then we went to the internet cafe across the street and checked in! After that we still managed to find a little cafe with a tv and watched the end of the Milan-Napoli soccer match.....with T.cheering for Milan due to 3 Brazilian players on the team while the waiters were for Napoli....and I was the only woman in the place!
At the end one of the waiters said MILAN - BAD! But BRAZIL - GOOD! T. keeps wearing his Brazilian jersies or his Kaka from Milan jersey and everyone yells to him!

Today we peeked through the keyhole of the Knights of Malta door and saw St. Peter's framed in green, took photos at an incredible overlook, visited the Bocca di Veritas (Mouth of Truth), strolled through the tackiest wax museum ever, dropped our laundry to be washed and picked it up later after a Bangaldesh-Pakistani meal in a place full of men watching a cricket match, where I was the only woman in the place! Hot red curry shrimp, basmati and naan for me; biryani chicken, samosa and garlic naan for T. We also managed to squeeze in some gelato......

That's a typical day here.....we see amazing things......we walk for miles....and we eat great meals!

Tomorrow is Pompeii followed by a performance of opera arias in St. Paul's Inside the Walls Church by the I Musici of Venice! Should be a GREAT day in Italy!

-Gayle Lopes (guest writer)