Rome part 2

Rome continued…..After the Vatican we hoped on a train and headed to the Capuchin Crypt located at the church of Immacolata Concezione. This place is pretty cool. It is lined with the bones of dean monks. The bones are artistically placed to make things like clocks ETC. There are also some dressed mummified remains. We walked though the piazza barbarini to the Trevi fountain. There were hardly any crowds present which made for a very enjoyable experience, unlike our first visit there were Chris was accosted.


Next we were off to the piazza de spangna and the Spanish steps. We could actually see them!!! A beautiful square, again so much nicer than our first visit.

From there were ambled down the road to the piazza del Popolo with it twin churches, ancient obelisk and northern gates to the city. Finally about 2 pm we found a nice trattoria to have lunch in. The food was out of this world and the service excellent. This was the first time we had sat down since getting off the train about 915 am.

Then It was back to the Vatican for the scheduled tour of the Necropolis under St Peters Basilica. 30 feet under the current church we visited the ancient city of the dead dating back to 67 AD. We traced the development of the different levels of the alters which all were placed over the tomb of St Peter who was crucified on this spot. He is the rock on which the Catholic church is built. We also discovered the what happened to his bones that were in the tomb and were able to view the remaining bones. Over all very cool.

We made it to the ship on time only after a further exhausting hour train ride were we had to stand in a packed train.. It was so full at first that the conductor was pushing people in to get the doors to close, it was like a sauna……… Ah Italia.