Rome: November 17, Saint Peter's and More Rain

After walking up Via Nazionale to the #40 bus stop and waiting there for ten minutes, seeing all the buses packed full like sardines, we decided instead to take the Metro to Saint Peter's Basilica from Repubblica.  While the metro was crowded and we had to stand, we at least were able to fit ourselves into the cars.  We got off at Ottaviano (with everybody else, it seemed) and I had to forego browsing the bancarelle along Via Ottaviano so that we could get to St. Peter's before it started raining.

We thought that the line into Saint Peter's on Saturday evening was horrendous and due to the fact it was Saturday night.  Yesterday it was even worse, stretching at least for a quarter of a mile -- well, at least for a couple of city blocks.  But I love looking at all the Italian fashions in the line!  Vibe and Fernando held our place in line while Penny and I went on our search for the medals of Saints John XXIII and John Paul II in the religious shops.  Still no luck finding the joint commemoration medal and so I decided to just get one of each for Patty Horomanski.  And we got the Holy Water!  Although Vibe said it was just as good from the tap...

Nail job, anyone?

Saint Peter's was immense and magnificent with lots and lots of statues, including Michelangelo's Pieta.  Too bad we didn't know who the rest of the statues were but we took lots of photos of them anyway.  Vibe wanted to climb to the top of the dome but she had no other takers (551 steps are way beyond our limit) so she'll have to wait for another occasion.

After Saint Peter's we walked over to Trastevere beside the Tiber River, a low riverside walkway that is below water today (we've had lots of rain).  We came up the stairs at Ponte Sisto, walked along the Via del Moro and decided to eat at L'Antico Moro.

Vibe and Fernando had pizza and Penny and I had pasta.  We had a friendly waiter but he brought Penny the wrong pasta and Fernando the wrong pizza so we were there longer than usual waiting for our food.

The weather was threatening throughout the day and I have a great video of a downpour after we left the restaurant.  Fortunately each of us had our own umbrella today. 

We wandered over to Santa Maria Trastevere where we happened upon a funeral which gave us time to sit and contemplate mortality. After the funeral we were able to view the gorgeous mosaics above the altar, and the cosmatesque floors. Cathy hem and hawed but finally bought an advent calendar of Santa Maria in Trastevere, which she will display each Christmas until she dies.

Then we made a beeline for San Francesco a Ripa, stumbling across Antica Caciara, the old-fashioned cheese shop that was featured in a video on youtube.  We didn't have the proprietor wait on us but the other clerk was just as helpful and friendly.  I bought some ceci-like beans, a mix of grains and lentils for a soup, some cheese and a burrata (the cream and mozzarella-filled mozzarella).  We saw the Bernini statue in San Francesco but we were all getting tired of churches and Vibe didn't want to go on to see Santa Cecilia.

We wandered back over the Tiber, across the Tiber Island, ending up by the synagogue in the Jewish ghetto.  Fernando and Penny had some kosher gelato but it wasn't very good.  After a bit more wandering through small streets in the general direction of Largo Argentina, we realized we were back at the Tiber River, having gone full circle.  So we took out the phones again to find our way over to the Largo Argentina, where we took the #40 bus back home, jammed in with a lot of other people with fogged up windows.  But we made it.

After resting for an hour or so, Vibe was hot for another restaurant.  We perused the map online and decided to walk down to the Antica Boheme at the end of Via Napoli.  The restaurant was mainly in the basement but we had a very charming waiter, who anticipated what each of us was ordering.

Vibe ordered minestrone and osso bucco (she said that the one she makes is better), Penny ordered meat ravioli and carciofi alla romana (artichoke), I had spinach and ricotta ravioli and a carciofi, but Fernando had a fruit salad followed by a creme brulee.  This evening we didn't top it off with limoncello but with machiatos, except for Vibe who had a latte.

We are getting very fat on this trip...