First full day in Rome so we thought we would do a walkabout and get a feel for our neighbourhood. We are in an area called Monti, which is quite close to the Colosseum. Also close to a Metro stop (Rome's subway). They have 2 lines right now. They've been excavating for a third line since the seventies but when they dig every 10' or so they uncover more ancient stuff. Slow going. Anyways, our area seems really cool. There are lots of restaurants, shops and of course, gelato places. What else do you need? Oh right, wine and beer shops - they're here too.

We headed out and did a walk around the outside of the Colosseum. Beth and I have been inside it before when we came in 2011 with the kids. It's really big, actual name is the Flavian Amphitheater. I made a mistake before when I called the theatre in Taormina an "amphitheater". It's just a theatre. When you build 2 of them facing each other, then you call in an amphitheater. So there you go. It looked really packed with hundreds of tourists milling around. We went around the back and down a street to the Basilica of San Clemente. It's a church built around 1100. While it's probably what you might call an "average" church here in Rome, and fairly nice with marble, paintings, and all that stuff, it's what's under it that we were interested in. In the 1800's an English guy was poking around in the basement and found that the present basilica had been constructed over an older one from the 4th Century. That's around the time that this Christianity thing was gaining ground. But that's not all, the English guy wasn't satisfied so he kept at it and what do you know, beneath the 4th century church was another building that at one time was used as a place to worship Mithra. That religion was sort of in competition with the new Christianity thing going on. Finally when we got to the very very bottom there was a Roman nobleman's house with their very own spring-fed water source. That's a lot of layers. Eventually we rose back up from the depths and we back out at the current street level. We needed some nourishment by that point se we popped into a panini joint.

After a siesta Beth and I went to a nearby church (many are nearby, there's one everywhere you look). This one is called San Pietro in Vincoli (St. Peter in Chains). At the alter there's a small glass that apparently has the chains the Romans used to bound St. Peter when he was imprisoned in Jerusalem. We were interested in the large sculpture of Moses, another one of Michelangelo's creations. I'm no art critic but when you see one of his sculptures up close you can certainly see the quality of the piece.

Gaye prepared a really nice Risotto dish that was enjoyed by all, served with a nice Chianti of course. Around 9:00 pm we were nodding off but wait! Something's missing....... gelato! I had a blend of lemon and mango while Beth reported she had the best chocolate one ever. Keith had the old standby - Stracciatella. Can't go wrong with that one. Hit the sack soon after and feel asleep in the Eternal City of Rome.