10/17. Thursday - Scavi tour and more of Rome

10/17. Thursday - Scavi Tour plus This morning we were up early and on our way to a very busy Metro towards St.Peters for our Reserved Scavi tour. This is a guided tour of the excavated areas below St Peters. Very interesting and feel that we learned at lot about the time that St. Peter was alive in Rome. The tour ended at St. Peter's tomb just below the main altar in the Basilica. We then saw that the line to climb to the top of the cupola, which is usually long, was very short so off we went into the lift which took us up 7 floors to the rooftop of St. Peter's. Here we left Bonnie and the 3 of us climbed the 320 very steep and narrow steps all the way up and then back down after viewing Rome from the very top of St Peters. This was a thrilling accomplishment for me as I had been to the rooftop before but never to the top of the cupola. What a view!!!!!

Back down at the rooftop we met with Bonnie.... She and Jane decided to stay on at St Peters as they wanted to do a complete view....it actually took them 3 hours. But Martha and I have been here several times, 2 days ago actually, and just needed to visit John Paul's grave site before we left. We took the metro over to see San Giovanni in laterano, this is Pope Francis home parish in Rome. Beautiful church..almost as large as St Peters. Here we first heard news of a protest going on and possible strike on Friday. Walked over to see the church of the sacred stairs but found it closed until three.

Martha and I continued to walk in the area looking for the street that would take us to the Colosseum when we happened on a building which is currently involved in some protest movements in the city right now ...Museo Storico Della Libranzione. Got some picture and went on our way... It had been a Long time since breakfast so we stopped at the Si Clemente cafe to share a pizza and coffees before continuing on our way as by this time we could see the top of the colosseum in the distance. As usual, I only wanted to see and get pictures of the outside of this ancient building. Besides, you can see a lot of the insides while walking around the outside.

. Soon we found the Other metro line and were on our way back home. Some groceries at the store in the termi and we had our dinner meal out In the patio of our building... Shared our last bottle of wine from Serronto with Darrel who lives in our room. Actually we needed his help to get it opened. Martha said she slept so good last night after finishing off that bottle of red. By 10 PM I was in bed when Bonnie and Jane walked in after a late dinner and seeing the Rome sights at night with the lights on. This is something that we were going to do, but my legs gave out......MAYBE FRIDAY NIGHT ???