11 through 15

Here are a few stats for ya: we've slept in 14 hotels, flown over 20,000 miles, visited 32 cities/towns, been bused about 1,600 miles, used 5 different types of currency and eaten incalculable amounts of ice cream. (Starting Monday the budget and the diet will significantly tighten!)

This is the boys 3rd 'trip' to Rome and my 4th so we were DONE with the 'top 10 must see' sites. Today we focused on numbers 11 through 15 and managed to lose the crowds of tourists. I'll give you a little run down.

I let the boys sleep in late, as in closer to lunch than breakfast late. So first order of business was lunch. A Coke in Europe will rock you anywhere from 2 - 7 Euros. Ridiculous. And one thing that Europe does not believe in is free re-fills. So when we saw a restaurant that DID have free refills... we took a table!

It felt like being back in the States. Nacho's, Fajita's, Barbecue, steak. We succumbed to non-Italian food and didn't feel bad about it at all. The manager was from Boston and our waitress was from Texas. A little taste of home - which was really nice after 5 weeks.

There is a church called 'Saint Peter in Chains' not far from the Colosseum. (My Dad actually suggested it when I asked him for ideas of what we could do that we hadn't done before.) The church has two notable items that make it well worth a visit. Just under the alter they claim to have the actual chains that bound Peter before he was killed - we are skeptical. A painting on the ceiling tells the story.

The second notable item in the church (and the one who's authenticity is a fact) is a statue of Moses by Michelangelo. Moses is depicted with horns on his head based on a misinterpretation of scripture which Michelangelo was aware of but sculpted anyway.

The entire work was supposed to include 40 figures and be the tomb of Pope Julius, but after doing Moses Michelangelo got distracted with the Vatican and Sistine Chapel. It is assumed that students of the artist added the additional statues and Pope Julius was buried at St. Peter's.

Next we walked to the Jewish Ghetto. Jews have been in Rome for as long as Rome has been in Italy and have suffered for most of the time because of their religion. We were able to tour two synagogues and a museum dedicated to preservation of items from the ghetto. Because of a terrorist attack in 1992, photos are strictly forbidden and one woman was questioned and forced to show the guard her digital photos when he thought he saw her take one. I guess too much information could be gathered from photos posted to the internet for future attacks. This time I kept my camera in my bag! Their piazza had an interesting name:

The area was so pretty and nearly tourist free - except for us! (I wonder if people who live in Rome dislike the tourist crowds as much as we do?)

We crossed the river and wandered around the Trastevere neighborhood, also tourist free. It felt like a true snapshot of life in Rome. Crossing back over the bridge we visited Piazza Campo de' Fiori and a pizzeria that was a recommended local favorite. We picked up some slices and ate with the rest of the locals at the fountain.

We were making a big loop around all the famous sites of the city so on the way back to the hotel we passed through Piazza Navona and by the Pantheon just for a couple parting shots. The weather was fantastic - just like the whole day!

I have realized that there is one pretty big draw back to traveling with one small carryon; there is no space to pack any items you'd like to purchase. Which in the end could be a good thing.