Dancing in the Rain

When it rains here in Rome...it pours!

The next three days have been spent under umbrellas and rain slickers, but how adorable are they?!

Monday we visited two churches to see Michelangelo's Moses and three original paintings by Caravaggio. Then we had the rest of the day free!

Katie-Anne, Sharissa, and I hit the streets to see any place on our well worn maps that we hadn't been before. Here is where our adventure took us:

Piazza Navona

Lunch at the Campo di Fiori street markets

Fresh bread, Parmesan cheese and GIANT slices of watermelon!

Here comes the storm!

Walking along the Fiume Tevere

Bocca della Verita

Circo Massimo

Piazza della Repubblica

I absolutely LOVED walking the city in the rain. It was all so beautiful! And I have a strange giddy love for adorable umbrellas, and they were popping up all over the city!

Tuesday was another beautiful rainy day.

We visited St. Paul's church outside the walls to see its beautiful mosaics, cloister, and Abbey (yes I felt very much like I was walking in The Sound of Music). 

 

Mosaic above the altar

The cloister: an interior garden for the monks to ponder, meditate and study

We also visited the Catacombs of San Callisto and learned about early Christian beliefs and traditions. We weren't allowed to take pictures here but it was really interesting! And slightly eerie being 30+ meters underground in dark narrow tunnels, but interesting all the same!

Getting to the catacombs was an adventure. We had our first experience with Rome's unreliable bus system. After several previous attempts throughout the day, our bus line did eventually show up and we made it. The bus ride home was another story however! The bus stop is right outside the walls of the catacombs on this tiny, narrow, cobblestone street with 8ft walls on either side about a foot off the road. Despite the size of the street however, all the cars blazed right past at ridiculous speeds. Let's just say that this next hour was the first time I have ever seriously been scared for my life. The bus was an hour late so we lined the street, single file, pinned up against the wall, clutching our umbrellas with white knuckles and praying to not get hit! I'm sure we were quite the sight! And thanks to some not so nice Romans who drove through the puddles to splash us, we were soaking wet from the waist down. So amidst this miserable experience/comical picture, suddenly several polizia on motorcycles rode by, blew there whistles at us, and gestured at us to stay back. Um ok...pretty sure we're as far back as we can get! Then came a procession of 30+ police vehicles and armored vehicles, with a black windowed sedan waving the Italian flag right in the middle of them. And to top it all off, a helicopter even appeared to help with the escort. After the long procession, we looked at each other in disbelief. We just witnessed something huge and had absolutely no idea what it was. 

Well came to find out that was the President of France, being escorted just over the hill where he was meeting with the Italian president. Yeah no big deal. So glad we could provide some colorful views en route! With love, from America :)