Saturday, May 10 - Rome

 This morning we had a walking tour of the historic district – as if all of Rome isn’t historic!

We saw many of the very old palaces and churches and lots of evidence of the re-use of materials,

up to and including gigantic marble columns. [L:the Pantheon]

At the Trevi Fountain, we were treated to gelato by Annelise – yum! We had to line up for the Pantheon
, but it moved quickly and we spent some time in that amazing space. We walked through ancient, narrow streets with rough cobblestones, and beside busy, multilane streets. Rome is very, very busy. In addition to the recent funeral for Pope Francis and the selection of Pope Leo, it is a Jubilee or Holy Year, which means lots of visitors. Just to add a little more excitement,

the Circus Maximus is the site of tomorrow’s Run for the Cure and is full of festive and practical tents and various activities. As lunchtime neared, we moved to the area of

the Coliseum. We weren’t going inside, so we opted to sit at an outdoor café across the street and enjoyed the sights.  After a short rest, we boarded our bus for the short trip to the Vatican Museum. As our local guide, Pietro, told us, the collection there was all about impressing guests and there’s so much stuff that it just  exhausts you to try and made sense of all of it. But my goodness! So much beauty! And I still am in awe of some of the architecture. Unfortunately, the Sistine Chapel  hasn’t re-opened after the conclave, so we missed that. It also meant that we had a much longer walk from the museum to St. Peter’s Basilica. Larry took a cab because his leg was bothering him. Luckily, he brought a cane, because today might have been impossible without it. At St. Peter’s,

 they were closing early, so we couldn’t walk around the whole thing, but we saw plenty, including the Pieta, from a distance. Then we walked to the bus and rode to a restaurant for a nice dinner. We’re getting to know some of the others in the group. There are just 21 of us, so we’ll likely know everyone by the end. On the way back to the bus, the bottom section of Larry’s cane detached and fell down a storm sewer. Go figure! We’re hoping to find a new one, but meanwhile we’ll put duct tape over the sharp edges and he can still use it. This was a challenging day and we’re very tired. Looking forward to 4 hours on the bus tomorrow.[L:Smartwatch counted 17500 steps - this must be a travel record for us]

Link to all photos of the Day  (click pics for full view)