Trip to Rome -- Day 2

We headed out this morning (Friday) for the “old” part of Rome. We explored the ruins of the Roman Forum, churches, and roads that Caesar rode in on. A lot of arches still standing. Amazing to walk through a place like that, imagining what it was like long ago when the famous events and people occurred there. Then on to the Colesseum. Today we went inside, yesterday we just drove by on the bus tour. It was neat to see all the tunnels where they would bring the animals and gladiators through. Lunch was at another sidewalk ristorante when it started to rain. We have found that all 9001 ristorantes here have the same menu: pizza, pasta, and antipasti (a few appetizers). So, today we just split a pizza. It was very good, we really like the tomato sauce and spices they use, we are just tired of bread and pasta since we already have bread every breakfast.

Then we went to San Giovanni of Laterano (St. John’s), the basilica that holds the papal seat. This is the church that Luther climbed the steps of, on his knees, kissing every step. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize this was the place so we’ll come back for that later on in the week. This place is huge and since it holds the papal seat, it is the highest ranking of all basilicas.

We were now at the farthest point in Rome from our hotel so we started to head back about 3:20 p.m. for a rest before dinner. Well, we finally got back to our hotel about 5:45 p.m., we had to stop for gelato, of course, and a few interesting sights along the way. We did a lot of walking today. Rome is a great city for walking.

Keeping with our American dinner theme, we ate tonight at T-Bone American Steakhouse! It was so very good to have a chef salad, ribs, onion rings, with a Diet Pepsi and a full glass of ice for my wife and an Italian beer for me. Very good dinner! I really liked the glass they served my beer in so I asked my waiter if they sold them and he said, no, there’s just a limited number. So when another guy came by I asked him, and he said he would check. When he came back, he handed me the glass and said, “Present.” Very cute and obviously very gracious. They got a big tip. Another couple we met there (when we were trying to get in before 7 p.m. and realized they didn’t open until 7:30!) were also there because they were so sick of pasta. She said, “I need a steak!”