Day #7: Rome, Italy

Since we'd already spent over a week in Rome in 1993, we wanted to try something different this time.  We opted for the Secrets of Underground Rome Tour.  Arnold and Nancy would be seeing the Colosseum and other incredible Roman sites.

At each port, there were crew members dressed in regional costumes offering to take photos with you.

We joined our NCL Underground Rome tour which took us to Catacombe S. Domitilla in Civita Vecchia (Ancient Town).

And yes, we were definitely underground.

I was hoping Rome was not a place where earthquakes could happen.

The catacomb of Domitilla has over 11 miles of subterranean tombs.  It dates back to the 3rd century and is the burial place for Christians of long ago.

We were able to see a lot of tomb paintings that are still visible today.

Our docent, Laura told us that there were 150,00 bodies buried and that Romans then were under 5 feet tall. She also said there were 65 catacombs in Rome.  This is one of the largest.

There was also a subterranean church.

We saw more pino (umbrella pine) trees that we were introduced to in Pisa.  These are the trees that produce pine nuts that I love.

Our guide had told us then that the name Pinocchio comes from Pino.

Pino comes from the name Giuseppino.










Our bus soon took us to the Colosseum.

We spotted more Roman soldiers.  It was fun to see cousin Arnold and Nancy go rushing by with their tour group.




Our group did not go into the Colosseum, but stopped for a closer look at Ludus Magnus the gladiators' training academy which is across the street.

Oh yes, we remembered Flat Stanley this time.

We met a lovely woman named Bernice from New Jersey who we would bump into several times during our tours and onboard ship.

I was so amazed that she often traveled alone enjoying the world.

We walked to St. Clements Church.

This ancient church was transformed over the centuries from a private home that was the site of clandestine Christian worship in the 1st century to a grand public basilica by the 6th century, reflecting the emerging Catholic Church's growing legitimacy and power. 

                                                                                     -- Wikipedia

Masimo was our city guide.  He reminded us of a college professor who wished he hadn't retired.

He was a fount of information on every nook and cranny of Roman ruins.

Masimo led us underground to the basement and explained the three levels of the 1,000 year old San Clemente basilica.  The basement had been a 4th century early Christian church, and below it a Roman Republican Era building that was destroyed by The Great Fire of 64 AD.

Next stop:
Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini, or Our Lady of the Conception of the Capuchins, is a church in Rome, Italy, commissioned in 1626 by Pope Urban VIII, whose brother, Antonio Barberini, was a Capuchin friar. It is located at Via Veneto, close to Piazza Barberini.  

 The church is most famous as an ossuary, known as the Capuchin Crypt, in which is displayed the bones of over 4,000 Capuchin friars, collected between the years of 1528 and 1870.      --Wikipedia

This is where the Imodium stopped working for poor Art.  He had to get to a bathroom immediately.   And this was before he saw the inside of the Cappuccin church with the all the bones on the walls. 

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

We were not allowed to take photos in the church, but I found this photo in Wikipedia.

I didn't know that cappuccino is so named for the color of the Cappuccin monks' robes.  Now, every time I see a cup of cappuccino I might remember the bones in this church.

And so ended another day.  Art was actually feeling pretty good.

Could anything else go wrong?