Sunday Nov 8

Piazza Barberini- one block from our apartment

From on top of the Spanish Steps (which weren't very appealing today as they have a 20th anniversary exhibit of the Berlin Wall going on)

The artwork inside the Trinite Monte Church at the top of the Spanish Steps was great.

Went to Villa Giulia- built 500 years ago for one of the Popes. It now houses the excavations of the Etruscans (pre-Romans, 500BC and earlier). Amazing to see how well preserved some of the artifacts are after 2500+ years.

Villa Borghese Park

Too cheap to buy to buy a bottle of water (can't take him anywhere)

Church of Jesus and Mary al Corso (Filipino mass)

Basilica of St Ambrose & Charles. Notice the grey & white columns-that is the natural color of the marble they used!

Same Basilica

Reliqiuary of St Charles (his heart is displayed here)

It really is amazing what you can see in about 8 hours. We normally try to concentrate each day on an area of town. Today was "north" of the apartment. After a wonderful night's sleep we headed out in upper 50's weather. It rained about 4 times today- 5 minutes each. It was so nice as it was so clean afterwords and the skies cleared out each time afterwords. There are several people on the streets but definitely not as crowded as other pics I've seen of Rome. This is the perfect time to come- great temperature, less tourists, etc.

Well, today we counted 8 Churches that we went in. Some just appear around the corner and don't look like much from the outside but once you walk inside you see the most magnificient works of art that are at least 500 years old. Since it was Sunday we walked in on mass several times. Wouldn't you know it- one was a mass in Tagalog (Filipino) and had a congregation and Priest that were all Filipino. Of course they started on Filipino time also (20 minutes late). We walked through the Borghese Villa park, the Spanish Steps, and the highend shopping areas of Via Corso and Condotti. Our only purchase was a CD (and a wonderful lunch of pizzas).

Short video inside St Ambrose & Charles Basilica (click arrow for video)