7th day in Rome

Friday 2/26  Up at 9:14, breakfast at the hotel.  On to the metro, and to the Marcus Theater.  It’s the only complete one left, and unfortunately for us, not open to the public yet.  Walking around it, we ended up in the Jewish ghetto.  We stopped at a shoe store but they didn’t have the right size.  We found a square with an statue of marble elephant with an Egyptian obelisk on its back. Don't know what this represents, but we liked it.

Near it was a church named Santa Maria sopra Minerva. It’s a really nice church, well decorated and very colorful inside but not as gold-leafed ornate as most. They did a good job with the stained glass windows here - they are very bright and well placed so the church was well lit inside, and the afternoon sun shown through to make colored circles on the interior columns. One of the church's claim-to-fame is a beautiful Michelangelo sculpture called Christ the Redeemer.

In the church are the usual memorials and one unusual one - a glass coffin with a saint's relics. She is Santa Wittoria and here she is, posed in a surprisingly flirty manner with her left hand on her hip and her right hand supporting her head...or rather, supporting her skull, which is covered by thin gauze. We couldn't get very close but it was clear we were looking at her bones.

Next we went back to the Pantheon, to get it burned into our memories for when we are back home. Then we got dinner at a pizzeria - I had a spinach pizza and Randy had a calzone, and we both got ice cream for dessert. Randy found a shoe store and bought a couple more pairs of shoes. He has learned that European shoes fit him so much better than USA shoes. We walked to Trevi fountain again and then went to see the Colosseum at night. Randy bought some more shoes, then we went back to the hotel to pack. We decided to see St. Peters at night so got on the metro and went there. Cashed $40 in travelers checks for the next day. We looked for the restaurant we bought drinks at the first time we were there, but when we finally found it, it was closed. So we stopped at a nice restaurant and ordered appetizers; brochette with tomatoes and mixed antipasti (prosciutto , olives, salami, artichoke hearts), beer and water. The break sticks were very, very thin. While walking around afterwards we stopped at a pastry shop and bought a cheese tart and a cookie with chocolate topping. Went back to the hotel, and on the way Randy got a ham and cheese sandwich and I bought a candy bar. Left a walkup call for 6 am and called it a night around 10.