Off the Beaten Path

Monday Sept 26-

Rachel and I awoke early, before they had even laid out breakfast, and headed straight for the Vatican. We had arranged a tour of the ancient necropolis beneath St Peter's Basilica. There was no photography allowed, but the tour was one of the main highlights of my entire time in Rome. The necropolis was ancient, amazing, beautiful, and the tour was fascinating. We saw the actual bones of St Peter (NOT in the big tomb with the candles like most people think), as well as the original Christian burial grounds and chambers, including an interesting blend of pagan and early Christian art.

After the Necropolis we spent about four hours touring the Vatican Museums. It was nice, because we focused on things I had never seen- things not on the way to the Sistine Chapel, such as Etruscan Art, and other rooms, so we saw a lot of new stuff, ending at the Sistine Chapel. After the Vatican, we decided to climb Giancolo Hill. Our room at Suites Trastevere was the Giancolo Room, and we wanted to see the hill. It was away from the tourist area, and we ended up in a beautiful cafe overlooking the entire city at sunset. It was romantic. We had dinner at the Station again- the restaurant near the b and b, that we loved, and had the same waiter, who remembered us, though different food of course. It was a wonderful and thoroughly romantic day, one of the best days of my life to date.